Care Quality, Patient Safety, and Nurse Outcomes at Hospitals Serving Economically Disadvantaged Patients: A Case for Investment in Nursing

We sought to evaluate if better work environments or staffing were associated with improvements in care quality, patient safety, and nurse outcomes across hospitals caring for different proportions of patients who are economically disadvantaged. Few actionable approaches for hospitals with quality and resource deficits exist. One solution may be to invest in the nurse work environment and staffing. This cross-sectional study utilized secondary data from 23,629 registered nurses in 503 hospitals from a four-state survey collected in 2005–2008. Each 10% increase in the proportion of patients who are economically disadvantaged was associated with 27% and 22% decreased odds of rating unit-level care quality as excellent and giving an “A” safety grade, respectively. Each 10% increase was also associated with 9%, 25%, and 11% increased odds of job dissatisfaction, intent to leave, and burnout, respectively. The work environment had the largest association with each outcome. Accounting for the nurse work environment lessened or eliminated the negative outcomes experienced at hospitals serving high proportions of patients who are economically disadvantaged. Leaders at hospitals serving high proportions of patients who are economically disadvantaged, as well as state and federal policymakers, should work to improve quality, safety, and nurse outcomes by strengthening nurse work environments. Improving work environments highlights the role of nursing in the health care system, and policies focused on work environments are needed to improve the experiences of patients and nurses, especially at hospitals that care for many patients who are economically disadvantaged.

The Value of Verified Employment Data for Consumer Lending: Evidence from Equifax

The availability of digitally verifiable employment data significantly expands credit access for economically disadvantaged customers, and at the same time, profitably expands lenders’ loan portfolio.

The Future Ready Lab: Maintaining Students’ Access to Internships during Times of Crisis

In this manuscript, we highlight the virtual Future Ready Lab as one example of an innovative internship concept designed to increase the quantity of meaningful paid internship experiences available for students to participate in, prepare for further education, and be able to compete in the 21st Century workforce. The Lab’s premise is to provide access to student populations (e.g., economically disadvantaged, Black, and Latinx students) who oftentimes are not afforded the opportunity to hone their 21st Century skills in a high-impact internship experience. The virtual nature of the Future Ready Labs provided opportunities for high school students to participate, despite transportation limitations, social distancing, emerging safety precautions, and requirements based on the COVID-19 pandemic. In this manuscript, we help fill gaps in existing literature concerning how schools support students’ work-based learning experiences during times of crisis, particularly for diverse and economically disadvantaged learners. We conclude with recommendations for practice, and a broader work-based learning framework for how partnerships can be forged and sustained in high schools across the nation, as well as implications for educational policy, practice, and research.

Differences in Reading by the Economic Status of Texas Grade 4 Boys and Girls in Special Education: A Multiyear Statewide Investigation

In this investigation, the degree to which the economic status (i.e., Not Economically Disadvantaged, Economically Disadvantaged) of Texas Grade 4 boys and girls in special education was related to their reading performance was addressed. Archival data from the Texas Education Agency Public Education Information Management System were analyzed for 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, and 2017-2018 school years on the Texas state-mandated reading assessment for Grade 4 students. Inferential statistical analyses, conducted separately for boys and girls in special education, revealed that boys and girls in poverty had statistically significantly lower reading test scores than boys and girls who were not in poverty. Results in all four school years were consistent with the existing research literature in that poverty negatively affects reading performance. Implications for policy and practice were provided, as well as recommendations for future research.

Disruptive Technologies for Achieving Supply Chain Resilience in COVID-19 Era: An Implementation Case Study of Satellite Imagery and Blockchain Technologies in Fish Supply Chain

In supply chains where stakeholders belong to the economically disadvantaged segment and form an important part of the supply chain distribution, the complexities grow manifold. Fisheries in developing nations are one such sector where the complexity is not only due to the produce being perishable but also due to the livelihood dependence of others in the coastal regions that belong to the section of economically disadvantaged. This paper explains the contextual challenges of fish supply chain in a developing country and describes how integrating disruptive technologies can address those challenges. Through a positive deviance approach, we show how firms can help unorganized supply chains with economically disadvantaged suppliers by carefully redesigning the supply chain through the integration of satellite imagery and blockchain technology. With COVID-19 in the backdrop, we highlight how such technologies significantly improves the supply chain resilience and at the same time contributes to the income generating opportunities of poor fisherfolks in developing nations. Our study has important implications to both developing markets and food supply chain practitioners as this paper tackles issues such as perishability, demand-supply mismatch, unfair prices, and quality related data transparency in the entire value chain.

Systematic Review of the Literature on Dental Caries and Periodontal Disease in Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Individuals

Dental caries and periodontal disease represent a health problem and a social cost for the entire population, and in particular for socio-economically disadvantaged individuals who are less resistant to disease. The aim of this review is to estimate the prevalence and severity of the two dental pathologies, caries and periodontal disease, in the different classes of socio-economically disadvantaged subjects and to understand which of them are most affected. A systematic search of the literature was performed in MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE and Web of Science after establishing a suitable search strategy for each database, using keywords related to socio-economically vulnerable classes and health outcomes. Socio-economically disadvantaged individuals are more susceptible to tooth decay and periodontal disease (with relative tooth loss) than non-vulnerable people. Additionally, when multiple vulnerabilities are combined in the same subject, these oral diseases worsen. There is no type of vulnerability more affected by caries and periodontitis than others, since overall they all have severe disease indices. The data from this systematic literature review might be useful for health policy makers looking to allocate more resources and services to socially disadvantaged individuals, resulting in making them more resilient to oral disease due to their social marginalization.