Lori A. Dickes

Early Treatment for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: A Palliative Approach.

Objective To describe medical, safety, and health care utilization outcomes associated with an early treatment model for neonatal opioid withdrawal. Study Design This is a retrospective review of 117 opioid‐exposed infants born in a large regional hospital and treated in the level I nursery with methadone initiated within 48 hours of birth. Results For this cohort, mean length of stay was 8.3 days. Hospital safety events were infrequent; there were no medication errors or deaths. Within 30 days of discharge, 14% of infants visited the emergency department; 7% were readmitted. Per birth, mean hospital charges were

Economic repercussions of marital infidelity

10,946.96; mean costs were

Early Treatment Innovation for Opioid-Dependent Newborns: A Retrospective Comparison of Outcomes, Utilization, Quality, and Safety, 2006–2014

5,908.93. Conclusion This study is the first to describe an early treatment model in a low‐acuity nursery to prevent severe neonatal opioid withdrawal. The described model may be safe, effective, low‐cost, and feasible for replication.

Evaluating a Nutrition Education Program in an Era of Food Insecurity

Purpose – Numerous scholars have studied the propensity and related determinants of marital infidelity across socioeconomic and demographic groups. However, the broader social and economic consequences of infidelity remain an unexplored question, particularly the macroeconomic consequences from the individual impacts on families and households. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Using income data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to analyze the relationship between the probability of infidelity and income and second, to quantify the cost of marital infidelity on individual families and taxpayers. The results confirm that infidelity makes individual households poorer, but goes further to reveal widespread negative externalities that fall to taxpayers from the consequences of family fragmentation. Findings – The results of this study indicate a review of government policy since numerous government policies contradict the ...

Community partnerships as a tool to reduce regional labor gaps: A South Carolina regional case study

BACKGROUND Few coordinated treatment programs address the needs of infants and families struggling with the effects of substance use. In 2003 a large Southeastern regional hospital launched the Managing Abstinence in Newborns (MAiN) program, providing multidisciplinary, coordinated, community-based care for neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). A hypothesis-generating study was conducted to compare the outcomes of MAiN infants to comparable NAS infants receiving traditional care from 2006 through 2014 in South Carolina. METHODS De-identified sociodemographic and clinical data on MAiN infants, as well as NAS infants not treated with MAiN, were obtained from South Carolina statewide databases. Study measures included medical and safety outcomes, health services utilization, child protective services involvement, emergency services utilization, and inpatient readmissions. RESULTS Some 110 infants were identified who received the MAiN intervention and 356 NAS infants, also in South Carolina, who were potentially MAiN eligible. Overall, there were no significant differences in the two groups regarding medical or safety outcomes or child protective services involvement. Traditional care NAS infants were more likely to be treated in a higher-level nursery (68.8% vs. 0%). MAiN infants had

Local entrepreneurial programming: myth or reality– a southern case study

8,204 less per birth in median charges (p <0.001) than the traditional care NAS infants. MAiN infants also had a lower percentage of ED visits (p = 0.01) assessed as possibly or likely NAS related compared to traditional care NAS infants. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates the potential value of implementing the MAiN model in eligible NAS infants. With no difference in medical and safety outcomes and a significant reduction in charges, the MAiN model can be considered safe and cost-effective.

Review on Antibiotic Resistance

ABSTRACT The link between food insecurity and chronic disease has been examined. However, the broader question of whether national policy addressing food insecurity improves chronic disease remains unexplored. This research examines how Americans with limited food resources learn how to maximize nutritional value and food resources through evaluation of the federal program, EFNEP, the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program. Using self-reported survey responses, dependent t-tests confirmed an improvement in health behaviors postintervention. Due to the inherent bias of self-reported survey results, this research further examines the association between food insecurity and chronic disease of EFNEP participants through regression analysis.

The struggle for broadband in Rural America.

Twenty-first century economies may require innovative, entrepreneurial development policy, but many economically distressed communities face immediate human capital and labor market concerns that prevent them from implementing these approaches. A series of regional focus groups and interviews reveal some of the community and economic development challenges that non-metropolitan communities experience in an environment of globalization and industrial restructuring. Without addressing ongoing human capital weaknesses, these communities are at continued risk of falling further behind. This analysis underscores the importance of strong civic infrastructure and community efficacy for successful development efforts. Finally, this research discusses the potential of using regional partnerships to reduce or eliminate persistent labor supply and skill gaps in the region.

The Impact of Changing Lake Levels on Property Values: A Hedonic Model of Lake Thurmond

Purpose Entrepreneurship is argued to be a critical driver of economic growth for both individual communities and the nation. Regional scientists, economists, and policy makers underscore the importance of a diverse economy that supports recruitment of new firms, existing firms, and entrepreneurship efforts. However, there remains evidence that many states and localities prefer traditional industrial recruitment efforts and that local and state entrepreneurial efforts may be less coordinated. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This research explores the commitment and priorities of local and regional developers to entrepreneurial policy and other economic development policy efforts. This study uses a statewide survey to local economic developers and logistic regression to determine the likelihood of local entrepreneurial program efforts across South Carolina. Findings The model results reveal that the probability of local or regional entrepreneurial development programming is complex and dependent on the type of organization involved in economic development along with other community and state characteristics. However, results further confirm that barriers to entrepreneurship, like access to seed capital, and the influence of perceived alternative policies affect local and regional support of entrepreneurship. Originality/value The policy priorities of local economic developers appear to play a significant role in the probability of having local entrepreneurship policy and programs. This confirms that the signals local policymakers receive from the state may impact the programming choices and policy emphasis at the local and regional level. In conclusion, if states want entrepreneurial efforts to be a critical driver of economic growth and development, there must be a coordinated and focused state driver supporting these efforts.

A Prediction Model of Childhood Immunization Rates

Antibiotic resistance is the ability of bacteria and other microbes to resist the effects of an antibiotic. A primary characteristic of antibiotics is that they lose their effectiveness over time. In the last twenty years, the number of antibiotic classes and analogues in development has not kept pace with antibiotic resistance. Appropriate use of existing classes of antibiotics could improve the lifespan of these drugs. The side effects of antibiotic resistance include reduced patient outcomes and increasingly potent disease states. New government task forces have been developed to increase the level of research and federal involvement into this growing public health problem.