ABSTRACT
Data on the use of various therapeutic interventions among working populations at risk for musculoskeletal disorders are rare, despite the need for such information in assessing adherence to best practices. Using the results of a cross-sectional survey of newspaper workers who reported neck and upper limb pain or discomfort (n = 309), we describe the prevalence of a wide range of clinical and workplace interventions. Information/education, exercises, and physical treatments were the most common interventions, and work changes were less prevalent. Those with more frequent, longer-duration, and/or more severe symptoms more commonly reported visits to physiotherapists and health practitioners at work and use of physical treatments, medications, and devices. The multiplicity of interventions used pose evaluation challenges for occupational health practitioners and researchers.
Subject(s)
Health Services/statistics & numerical data , Musculoskeletal Diseases/therapy , Newspapers as Topic , Occupations , Adult , Databases, Factual , Educational Status , Exercise Therapy , Female , Humans , Linear Models , Male , Medicine , Middle Aged , Musculoskeletal Diseases/etiology , Neck Pain/therapy , Physical Therapy Modalities , Specialization , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
This paper presents simple expressions for the confidence intervals of indirect and direct standardized rates, based on the approximate bootstrap confidence (ABC) method of DiCiccio and Efron. For indirect rates, the ABC method compares favourably with the exact methods. An exact method is not available for direct standardized rates. I, therefore, compared the ABC to other simple procedures for confidence intervals, namely: the standard normal, log-normal, and a recent method proposed by Dobson et al. Simulation studies of the coverage properties of these methods for direct standardized rates show that the ABC method performs best, with balanced tail probabilities close to their expected values.
Subject(s)
Confidence Intervals , Vital Statistics , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Humans , Infant , Mathematical Computing , Middle Aged , Morbidity , Mortality , Poisson Distribution , Probability , Reference ValuesABSTRACT
This paper gives a description of how items of the Global Deterioration Scale's Brief Cognitive Rating Scale and Functional Assessment Staging can be verified by reviewing specific sections and items of the Minimum Data Set for Nursing Facility Resident Assessment and Care Screening which is completed annually and updated every three months or when significant changes in health occur. A likely outcome of such comparison is improved understanding of the cognitive and functional status of residents with dementia and other medical conditions.