A Formative Assessment of Nurses' Leadership Role in Zambia's Community Health System.

BACKGROUND: Despite its achievements in decreasing HIV prevalence and under-five mortality, Zambia still faces high maternal and neonatal mortality, particularly in the rural and remote areas where almost 60% of the population resides. After significant investments in developing its community health system, the Zambian Ministry of Health was interested to understand how to leverage the role of nurses to sustain achievements made and further improve the quality of care in rural communities. The Ministry joined research partners in an assessment into the role and leadership capacity of nurses heading rural health facilities. METHODS: A seven-member research team conducted 30 in-depth interviews and 10 focus group discussions in four provinces with four categories of respondents: national decision-makers, provincial and district managers, rural facility staff and community respondents (neighborhood health committee members and volunteers). An initial scoping visit and literature review informed the development of specific interview guides for each category of respondent. After audio-recording and transcription, research team members identified and reached consensus on key themes, and presented and validated the findings at a national stakeholder workshop. RESULTS: Zambia's front-line health teams are a complex mixture of professional facility staff, community providers, community-based volunteers and neighborhood health committees. Nurses and nurse-midwives head over half the rural facilities in Zambia, where they are expected to lead the delivery of safe, high-quality care with staff and volunteers who often operate beyond their level of training. Nurses and midwives who are assigned to head rural facilities are not adequately prepared or recognized for the leadership responsibilities they are expected to fulfill. CONCLUSIONS: This paper highlights opportunities to support rural facility heads in effectively leading front-line health teams to deliver primary healthcare to rural communities. Front-line teams require a leader to coordinate and motivate seamless and sustainable quality services that are accessible to all. Zambia has the potential to support integrated, responsive quality care and advance toward universal health coverage if nurses are adequately prepared and recognized with job descriptions that reflect their responsibilities and opportunities for career advancement.

Influence of Jail Incarceration and Homelessness Patterns on Engagement in HIV Care and HIV Viral Suppression among New York City Adults Living with HIV/AIDS.

OBJECTIVES: Both homelessness and incarceration are associated with housing instability, which in turn can disrupt continuity of HIV medical care. Yet, their impacts have not been systematically assessed among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). METHODS: We studied a retrospective cohort of 1,698 New York City PLWHA with both jail incarceration and homelessness during 2001-05 to evaluate whether frequent transitions between jail incarceration and homelessness were associated with a lower likelihood of continuity of HIV care during a subsequent one-year follow-up period. Using matched jail, single-adult homeless shelter, and HIV registry data, we performed sequence analysis to identify trajectories of these events and assessed their influence on engagement in HIV care and HIV viral suppression via marginal structural modeling. RESULTS: Sequence analysis identified four trajectories; 72% of the cohort had sporadic experiences of both brief incarceration and homelessness, whereas others experienced more consistent incarceration or homelessness during early or late months. Trajectories were not associated with differential engagement in HIV care during follow-up. However, compared with PLWHA experiencing early bouts of homelessness and later minimal incarceration/homelessness events, we observed a lower prevalence of viral suppression among PLWHA with two other trajectories: those with sporadic, brief occurrences of incarceration/homelessness (0.67, 95% CI = 0.50,0.90) and those with extensive incarceration experiences (0.62, 95% CI = 0.43,0.88). CONCLUSIONS: Housing instability due to frequent jail incarceration and homelessness or extensive incarceration may exert negative influences on viral suppression. Policies and services that support housing stability should be strengthened among incarcerated and sheltered PLWHA to reduce risk of adverse health conditions.

Effect of HIV Housing Services on Engagement in Care and Treatment, New York City, 2011.

The federal Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program addresses housing needs of low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene oversees 22 HOPWA contracts for over 2,400 clients, and manages the NYC HIV Registry. HOPWA clients (N = 1,357) were matched to a random 20 % sample of other PLWHA (N = 13,489). Groups were compared on HIV care retention, viral suppression, and rebound. HOPWA clients were, on average, 3 years younger and more likely to be concurrently diagnosed with HIV and AIDS. While HOPWA clients were more likely to be retained in care (94 vs. 82 %; mOR = 2.97, 95 % CI 2.35-3.74), they were no more likely to achieve suppression (84 vs. 86 %; mOR = 0.85, 95 % 0.70-1.03) and were more likely to rebound (11 vs. 7 %; mOR = 1.45; 95 % CI 1.10-1.91). HIV care retention does not fully translate to virologic suppression in this low-income service population.

Multistate point-prevalence survey of health care-associated infections.

BACKGROUND: Currently, no single U.S. surveillance system can provide estimates of the burden of all types of health care-associated infections across acute care patient populations. We conducted a prevalence survey in 10 geographically diverse states to determine the prevalence of health care-associated infections in acute care hospitals and generate updated estimates of the national burden of such infections. METHODS: We defined health care-associated infections with the use of National Healthcare Safety Network criteria. One-day surveys of randomly selected inpatients were performed in participating hospitals. Hospital personnel collected demographic and limited clinical data. Trained data collectors reviewed medical records retrospectively to identify health care-associated infections active at the time of the survey. Survey data and 2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample data, stratified according to patient age and length of hospital stay, were used to estimate the total numbers of health care-associated infections and of inpatients with such infections in U.S. acute care hospitals in 2011. RESULTS: Surveys were conducted in 183 hospitals. Of 11,282 patients, 452 had 1 or more health care-associated infections (4.0%; 95% confidence interval, 3.7 to 4.4). Of 504 such infections, the most common types were pneumonia (21.8%), surgical-site infections (21.8%), and gastrointestinal infections (17.1%). Clostridium difficile was the most commonly reported pathogen (causing 12.1% of health care-associated infections). Device-associated infections (i.e., central-catheter-associated bloodstream infection, catheter-associated urinary tract infection, and ventilator-associated pneumonia), which have traditionally been the focus of programs to prevent health care-associated infections, accounted for 25.6% of such infections. We estimated that there were 648,000 patients with 721,800 health care-associated infections in U.S. acute care hospitals in 2011. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this multistate prevalence survey of health care-associated infections indicate that public health surveillance and prevention activities should continue to address C. difficile infections. As device- and procedure-associated infections decrease, consideration should be given to expanding surveillance and prevention activities to include other health care-associated infections.