scholarly journals What do maternity services produce? An exploration of potential output measures to assess the efficiency and productivity of maternity services in Australia.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Eklom ◽  
Emily Callander ◽  
Sally Tracy
Keyword(s):  
Productivity Analysis ◽  
Composite Measure ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Potential Output ◽  
Maternity Services ◽  
Pregnancy And Childbirth ◽  
Perinatal Data ◽  
Data Collections ◽  
Efficiency And Productivity ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Background: In maternity services, as in other areas of healthcare, increasing emphasis is placed on improving “efficiency” or “productivity”. The first step in any efficiency and productivity analysis is the selection of relevant input and output measures. Within healthcare quantifying what is produced (outputs) can be difficult. The aim of this paper is to identify potential output measures that reflect the principles of woman-centred care and that can be used in an assessment of the efficiency and productivity of maternity services in Australia. Methods: This paper will survey available perinatal and maternal datasets in Australia to identify potential output measures; map identified output variables against the principles of woman-centred care outlined in Australia’s national maternity strategy; and based on this data, create a preliminary composite outcome measure for use in assessing the efficiency and productivity of Australian maternity services. Results: The identified composite measure consists of labour and birth outcomes indicators where data is available from the National Perinatal Data Collection. The composite measure makes it very clear that there are significant gaps in Australia’s maternity data collections with regard to measuring how well a maternity service is performing against the values of respect, choice and access. Conclusions: Adoption in Australia of the collection of woman-reported maternity outcomes would substantially strengthen Australia’s national maternity data collections and provide a more holistic view of pregnancy and childbirth in Australia beyond traditional measure of maternal and neonate morbidity and mortality.

scholarly journals An exploration of potential output measures to assess efficiency and productivity for labour and birth in Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Eklom ◽  
Sally Tracy ◽  
Emily Callander
Keyword(s):  
Productivity Analysis ◽  
Composite Measure ◽  
Safety Measures ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Potential Output ◽  
Maternity Services ◽  
Pregnancy And Childbirth ◽  
Data Collections ◽  
Efficiency And Productivity ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Background In maternity services, as in other areas of healthcare, increasing emphasis is placed on improving “efficiency” or “productivity”. The first step in any efficiency and productivity analysis is the selection of relevant input and output measures. Within healthcare quantifying what is produced (outputs) can be difficult. The aim of this paper is to identify a potential output measure, that can be used in an assessment of the efficiency and productivity of labour and birth in-hospital care in Australia and to assess the extent to which it reflects the principles of woman-centred care. Methods This paper will survey available perinatal and maternal datasets in Australia to identify potential output measures; map identified output variables against the principles of woman-centred care outlined in Australia’s national maternity strategy; and based on this, create a preliminary composite outcome measure for use in assessing the efficiency and productivity of Australian maternity services. Results There are significant gaps in Australia’s maternity data collections with regard to measuring how well a maternity service is performing against the values of respect, choice and access; however safety is well measured. Our proposed composite measure identified that of the 63,215 births in Queensland in 2014, 67% met the criteria of quality outlined in our composite measure. Conclusions Adoption in Australia of the collection of woman-reported maternity outcomes would substantially strengthen Australia’s national maternity data collections and provide a more holistic view of pregnancy and childbirth in Australia beyond traditional measure of maternal and neonate morbidity and mortality. Such measures to capture respect, choice and access could complement existing safety measures to inform the assessment of productivity and efficiency in maternity care.

scholarly journals The Association between the Five-Minute Apgar Score and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes among Children Aged 8−66 Months in Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6450
Author(s):  
Tahir Ahmed Hassen ◽  
Catherine Chojenta ◽  
Nicholas Egan ◽  
Deborah Loxton
Keyword(s):  
Apgar Score ◽  
Generalized Estimating Equations ◽  
Entire Range ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Outcomes ◽  
Apgar Scores ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Delay ◽  
Australian State ◽  
Perinatal Data ◽  
Data Collections ◽  
Minute Apgar Score

This study aimed to evaluate the association of the five-minute Apgar score and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children by taking the entire range of Apgar scores into account. Data from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health (ALSWH) and Mothers and their Children’s Health (MatCH) study were linked with Australian state-based Perinatal Data Collections (PDCs) for 809 children aged 8−66 months old. Generalized estimating equations were used to model the association between the five-minute Apgar scores and neurodevelopmental outcomes, using STATA software V.15. Of the 809 children, 614 (75.3%) had a five-minute Apgar score of 9, and 130 (16.1%) had an Apgar score of 10. Approximately 1.9% and 6.2% had Apgar scores of 0−6 and 7−8, respectively. Sixty-nine (8.5%) of children had a neurodevelopmental delay. Children with an Apgar score of 0−6 (AOR = 5.7; 95% CI: 1.2, 27.8) and 7−8 (AOR = 4.1; 95% CI: 1.2, 14.1) had greater odds of gross-motor neurodevelopment delay compared to children with an Apgar score of 10. Further, when continuously modelled, the five-minute Apgar score was inversely associated with neurodevelopmental delay (AOR = 0.75; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.93). Five-minute Apgar score was independently and inversely associated with a neurodevelopmental delay, and the risks were higher even within an Apgar score of 7−8. Hence, the Apgar score may need to be taken into account when evaluating neurodevelopmental outcomes in children.

scholarly journals Dual Efficiency and Productivity Analysis of Renewable Energy Alternatives of OECD Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7401
Author(s):  
Sedef E. Kara ◽  
Mustapha D. Ibrahim ◽  
Sahand Daneshvar
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Malmquist Productivity Index ◽  
Productivity Index ◽  
Scale Efficiency ◽  
Productivity Analysis ◽  
Average Efficiency ◽  
Efficiency And Productivity

This paper examines the dual efficiency of bioenergy, renewable hydro energy, solar energy, wind energy, and geothermal energy for selected OECD countries through an integrated model with energy, economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Two questions are explored: Which renewable energy alternative is more dual efficient and productive? Which renewable energy alternative is best for a particular country? Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used for the efficiency evaluation, and the global Malmquist productivity index is applied for productivity analysis. Results indicate bioenergy as the most efficient renewable energy alternative with a 20% increase in average efficiency in 2016 compared to 2012. Renewable hydro energy, wind energy, and solar energy show a 17.5%, 16%, and 11% increase, respectively. The average efficiency growth across all renewable energy alternatives signifies major advancement. Country performance in renewable energy is non-monolithic; therefore, they should customize their renewable energy portfolio accordingly to their strengths to enhance renewable energy efficiency. Renewable hydro appears to have the most positive productivity change in 2016 compared to 2012, while solar energy regressed in productivity due to its scale inefficiency. All renewable energy alternatives have relatively equal average pure efficiency change. The positive trend in efficiency and productivity provides an incentive for policy makers to pursue further development of renewable energy technologies with a focus on improving scale efficiency.

scholarly journals Growth and Productivity Analysis of Micro Finance Sector: A Case Study of Pakistan

2019 ◽  
Vol IV (III) ◽  
pp. 71-79
Author(s):  
Adnan Ahmad ◽  
Muhammad Ilyas ◽  
Muhammad Nisar Khan
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Productivity Analysis ◽  
Growth Strategies ◽  
Physical Infrastructure ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Government ◽  
Efficiency And Productivity

This study reviews the growth strategies and their effect on the efficiency and productivity of the microfinance sector of Pakistan. The sector needs to have adopted intensive growth strategy instead of extensive strategies of wide expansion in term of physical infrastructure and human resources, which had increased the financial sustainability risks for the credit constrain institutions. The sixdimension model of outreach used in this study also shows that the sector does not achieve the targets set forth for these micro finance institutes with respect to its active borrowers’ outreach. The sector has mainly focused the big cities and urban areas whereas the poverty levels are higher in rural areas. The government has also shown its interest by launching two different types of loan schemes. Among the three different types of institution, the microfinance banks dominate the sector.

scholarly journals Quantitative Genomic Dissection of Soybean Yield Components

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 665-675
Author(s):  
Alencar Xavier ◽  
Katy M. Rainey
Keyword(s):  
Genomic Prediction ◽  
Yield Components ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Breeding Strategy ◽  
Genotype By Environment ◽  
Field Crops ◽  
Common Parent ◽  
Data Collections ◽  
Enhanced Yield ◽  
Selection Of

Soybean is a crop of major economic importance with low rates of genetic gains for grain yield compared to other field crops. A deeper understanding of the genetic architecture of yield components may enable better ways to tackle the breeding challenges. Key yield components include the total number of pods, nodes and the ratio pods per node. We evaluated the SoyNAM population, containing approximately 5600 lines from 40 biparental families that share a common parent, in 6 environments distributed across 3 years. The study indicates that the yield components under evaluation have low heritability, a reasonable amount of epistatic control, and partially oligogenic architecture: 18 quantitative trait loci were identified across the three yield components using multi-approach signal detection. Genetic correlation between yield and yield components was highly variable from family-to-family, ranging from -0.2 to 0.5. The genotype-by-environment correlation of yield components ranged from -0.1 to 0.4 within families. The number of pods can be utilized for indirect selection of yield. The selection of soybean for enhanced yield components can be successfully performed via genomic prediction, but the challenging data collections necessary to recalibrate models over time makes the introgression of QTL a potentially more feasible breeding strategy. The genomic prediction of yield components was relatively accurate across families, but less accurate predictions were obtained from within family predictions and predicting families not observed included in the calibration set.

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