This study assessed the effectiveness of a worksite wellness program. A within-group study design was conducted. Assessment was based on 3737 continuously employed workers at a large agribusiness during 2007-2009. More than 80% of employees participated in the program, with a higher percentage of women participating. Clinically significant improvements occurred in those who were underweight, those with high systolic or diastolic blood pressure, high total cholesterol, high low-density lipoprotein, low high-density lipoprotein, high triglycerides, and high glucose. Among obese employee participants, significant improvements occurred in selected mental health and dietary variables. Among those who lowered their BMI, significant decrease occurred in fat intake, and significant increase resulted in weekly aerobic exercise and feelings of calmness and peace, happiness, ability to cope with stress, and more physical energy.
Objective. To develop a diagnostic test for assessing cognitive skills related to metacognition in a physiology course. Methods. Cognitive skills believed to be related to metacognition (visualizing lecture information and interpreting diagrams) were identified in a first-professional year (P1) physiology course and test items were constructed for each. Analyses included overall reliability, item discrimination, and variance comparisons of 4 groups to assess the effect of prior physiology coursework and diagnostic test score level on the first examination in physiology. Results. Overall reliability was 0.83 (N 5 78). Eighty percent of the test items discriminated positively. The average diagnostic test scores of students with or without a prior physiology course did not differ significantly. Students who scored above the class mean on the diagnostic test and who had taken a prior physiology course also had the highest average scores on the physiology examination. Conclusion. The diagnostic test provided a measure of a limited number of skills related to metacognition, and preliminary data suggest that such skills are especially important in retaining information.
This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of a worksite clinic. In-house clinic operational costs were compared to off-site (i.e., community) health care costs during a I-year time frame. Community cost norms were extracted from statewide databases and adjusted to local costs. Lost productivity costs were based on survey feedback from current clinic users, which included their estimated time away from work if they had to seek health care off-site, average hourly wages, and the number of actual treatments rendered by the on-site staff. Combined off-site costs of $224,461 (health care) and $113,883 (lost productivity) were nearly twice as high as actual on-site operational costs ($171,332). Overall, it appears the organization's worksite clinic provides employee health care services 2 to 3 times more cost-effectively than do off-site health care services. W ith the advent of higher health care costs and productivity concerns growing at more worksites in the past decade , an increasing number of companies are developing in-house clinics (Reynolds, 2005). These clinics exist in both mid-sized organizations such as Southwire Corporation
Correlates of achievement in the basic science years in medical school and on the Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE®), (Step 1) in relation to preadmission variables have been the subject of considerable study. Preadmissions variables such as the undergraduate grade point average (uGPA) and Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT®) scores, solely or in combination, have previously been found to be predictors of achievement in the basic science years and/or on the Step 1. The purposes of this retrospective study were to: (1) determine if our statistical analysis confirmed previously published relationships between preadmission variables (MCAT, uGPA, and applicant pool size), and (2) study correlates of the number of failures in five M1 courses with those preadmission variables and failures on Step 1. Statistical analysis confirmed previously published relationships between all preadmission variables. Only one course, Microscopic Anatomy, demonstrated significant correlations with all variables studied including the Step 1 failures. Physiology correlated with three of the four variables studied, but not with the Step 1 failures. Analyses such as these provide a tool by which administrators will be able to identify what courses are or are not responding in appropriate ways to changes in the preadmissions variables that signal student performance on the Step 1.
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