"Presenteeism" occurs when an employee goes to work despite a medical illness that will prevent him or her from fully functioning at work. This problem has been well studied in the business and social science literature, and carries increased importance in the health care setting due to the risk of infectious disease transmission in vulnerable patient populations. In this manuscript, we discuss an outbreak of viral gastroenteritis in a long-term care facility and the role presenteeism played in disease transmission and extension of the outbreak. We use existing literature to point out the hazards of presenteeism in the health care sector. We will also discuss factors that may be involved in the decision to work while ill and propose policy changes that may reduce the incidence of presenteeism in health care organizations.

OBJECTIVES To describe lengths of stay among nursing home decedents. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING The Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults aged 50 and older. PARTICIPANTS 1,817 nursing home residents who died between 1992 and 2006. MEASUREMENTS Our primary outcome was length of stay, defined as the number of months between the nursing home admission and the date of death. Covariates included demographic, social, and clinical factors drawn from the HRS interview conducted closest to the date of nursing home admission. RESULTS The mean age of decedents was 83.3 (SD 9.0) and the majority were female (59.12%), and White (81.5%). Median and mean length of stay prior to death were 5 months (IQR 1-20) and 13.7 months (SD 18.4), respectively. Fifty-three percent died within 6 months of placement. Large differences in median length of stay were observed by gender (men, 3 months vs. women, 8 months) and net worth (highest quartile, 3 months vs. lowest quartile, 9 months) (all p<.001). These differences persisted after adjustment for age, sex, marital status, net worth, geographic region, and diagnosed chronic conditions (cancer, hypertension, diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, and stroke). CONCLUSION Nursing home lengths of stay are brief for the majority of decedents. Lengths of stay varied markedly by factors related to social support.

Purpose Unhealthy behaviors contribute to half of U.S. deaths. However, physicians lack sufficient skill in counseling patients to change behaviors. Characterizing effective published curricular interventions for behavior-change counseling for medical trainees would inform educators toward improved training. Method The authors conducted a systematic literature search of studies published 1965–2011 evaluating curricula on behavior change counseling for medical trainees. Included studies described: (1) behavior change counseling, (2) teaching interventions for medical trainees, and (3) assessment of interventions. The authors extracted eligible articles, rated outcomes for learners and patients using Kirkpatrick’s hierarchy, and determined study quality. Results Of 2,788 identified citations, 109 met inclusion criteria. Most studies were performed in the United States (98), 93 at a single institution, and 81 in primary care settings. Curricular topics for counseling included smoking (67 studies), nutrition (30), alcohol/drug use (26), and exercise (22). Although most studies did not include theoretical frameworks, 39 used the Transtheoretical Model of Change. Sixty-two studies involved eight or fewer hours of curricular time, and 51 spanned four or fewer weeks. The studies with highest-level outcomes and quality employed multiple curricular techniques and included practice of counseling techniques in either simulated or actual clinical settings. Conclusions Existing literature suggests that trainees learn behavior change counseling through active, realistic practice and implementation of reminder and feedback systems within actual clinical practice settings. Multi-institutional medical education research on methods of teaching behavior-change counseling that influence patients’ health outcomes are needed to ensure trainees’ clinical competence and improve patient care.