Performance Of Healthcare Professionals Research Articles

Lighting for neonatal intensive care units: Some critical information for design

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of light on the development of premature infants and on the performance of health care professionals in neonatal intensive care units (Nicus). The literature supports the conclusion that low, and probably cycled, illuminances, are important to near- and long-term development of premature infants. However, the evidence supports the opposite conclusion for adults in the same hospital environment. The literature suggests that high illuminances improve task performance of adults working night shifts. Furthermore, a survey of nurses at one NICU shows that concern for infant well-being far outweighs other lighting considerations. Based on the literature reviewed and the results of the survey, this paper offers suggestions for lighting the Nicu.

Health Status Measurement and the Assessment of Medical Care

This article reviews the role of health status measures in the assessment of medical care. It is argued that such measures are of only limited value in assessing the performance of health care professionals and institutions because of confounding factors, problems of data collection and the play of chance. Nevertheless, health status measures should be incorporated as outcome measures into clinical trials since they can provide information on how individuals and institutions can improve performance and give health policy makers information about the effectiveness of interventions. It is concluded that the development of simpler measures of performance would be more practical than trying to overcome the limitations of health status measures in monitoring the quality of health care institutions.