The model discussed in this article divides the population into eight groups: people in good health, in maternal/infant situations, with an acute illness, with stable chronic conditions, with a serious but stable disability, with failing health near death, with advanced organ system failure, and with long-term frailty. Each group has its own definitions of optimal health and its own priorities among services. Interpreting these population-focused priorities in the context of the Institute of Medicine's six goals for quality yields a framework that could shape planning for resources, care arrangements, and service delivery, thus ensuring that each person's health needs can be met effectively and efficiently. Since this framework would guide each population segment across the institute's "Quality Chasm," it is called the "Bridges to Health" model.
Keywords:Health care reform, community health planning, health services needs and demand, person-focused health. (IOM 2001a) envisioned an approach to health that focuses on the individual person or patient and met six specific aims for care: it must be safe, effective, efficient, patient centered (i.e., meets the patient's desires and preferences within the care delivery environment), timely, and equitable.
C ROSSING THE QUALITY CHASM
These findings are consistent with an impact of the QIO Program and QIO technical assistance on the observed improvement. Future evaluations of the QIO Program will attempt to better address the limitations of the design of this study.
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine prospectively whether unplanned pregnancies are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes among users of natural family planning. METHODS: Women who became pregnant while using natural family planning were identified in five centers worldwide: there were 373 unplanned and 367 planned pregnancies in this cohort. The subjects were followed up at 16 and 32 weeks' gestation and after delivery. The risks of spontaneous abortion, low birth-weight, and preterm birth were estimated after adjustment by logistic regression. RESULTS: The women with unplanned pregnancies were more likely to be at the extremes of age, to report more medical problems before and during the index pregnancy, and to seek antenatal care later in gestation than the women with planned pregnancies. However, women with planned pregnancies reported a higher rate of spontaneous abortion in previous pregnancies (28.8%) than did women with unplanned pregnancies (12.9%). There were no significant differences in the rates of spontaneous abortion, low birthweight, or preterm birth between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: No increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes was observed among women who experienced an unplanned pregnancy while using natural family planning.
This was a multicentred, prospective study of pregnancies among women using natural family planning. The women maintained natural family planning charts of the conception cycle, recording acts of intercourse and signs of ovulation (cervical mucus changes, including peak day and basal body temperature). Charts were used to assess the most probable day of insemination relative to the day of ovulation and length of the follicular phase of the cycle. The sex ratio (males per 100 females) for 947 singleton births was 101.5, not significantly different from the expected value of 105. The sex ratio did not vary consistently or significantly with the estimated timing of insemination relative to the day of ovulation, with the estimated length of the follicular phase or with the planned or unplanned status of the pregnancy. Although these findings may be affected by imprecision of the data, the study suggests that manipulation of the timing of insemination during the cycle cannot be used to affect the sex of offspring.
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