FOG COMPUTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR PATIENT SENSOR NETWORKS – TRENDS, ISSUES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Advances in sensors and internet of things promise broad opportunities in many areas and one of them is health care. There are many solutions to manage health care data based on cloud computing. However, high response latency, large volumes of data transferred and security are the main issues of such approach. Fog computing provides immediate response and ways to process large amounts of data using real time analytics which includes machine learning and AI. Fog computing has not yet fully matured and there are still many challenges when managing health care data. It was chosen to investigate the most relevant e­health fog computing topics by analyzing review articles to explain the fog computing model and present the current trends – fog computing e­health technology application environments, deployment cases, infrastructure technologies, data processing challenges, problems and future directions. 38 scientific review articles published in the last 5 years were selected for analysis, filtering the most significant works with Web of Science article search tool.

Old Order Amish Family Management of Children With Genetic Conditions

Families who raise children with genetic conditions manage health care within the context of cultural communities. For Amish families, although genetic conditions are prevalent and have been well reported, few studies document family management of these conditions. This article describes Amish family management strategies in light of the Family Management Framework’s contextual factors. Ethnographic data captured variations in perspectives from Amish families with children with diverse genetic conditions, Amish community members, and health care providers. Findings describe families at the center of decision making and health care management for children with genetic conditions, utilizing health care professionals and their surrounding Amish community members as resources. Amish families’ management strategies lie across a spectrum from home-oriented to medical-oriented, and this spectrum is elaborated in the findings and discussion of this article.

Military Medical Ethics in Contemporary Armed Conflict

Beleaguered countries struggling against aggression or powerful nations defending others from brutal regimes mobilize medicine to wage just war. As states funnel medical resources to maintain unit readiness and conserve military capabilities, numerous ethical challenges foreign to peacetime medicine ensue. Force conservation drives combat hospitals to prioritize warfighter care over all others. Civilians find themselves bereft of medical attention; prison officials force feed hunger-striking detainees; policymakers manage health care to win the hearts and minds of local nationals; and scientists develop neuro-technologies or nanosurgery to create super soldiers. When the fighting ends, intractable moral dilemmas rebound. Postwar justice demands enormous investments of time, resources, and personnel. But losing interest and no longer zealous, war-weary nations forget their duties to rebuild ravaged countries abroad and rehabilitate their war-torn veterans at home. Addressing these incendiary issues, Military Medical Ethics in Contemporary Armed Conflict integrates the ethics of medicine and the ethics of war. Medical ethics in times of war is not identical to medical ethics in times of peace but a unique discipline. Without war, there is no military medicine, and without just war, there is no military medical ethics. Military Medical Ethics in Contemporary Armed Conflict revises, defends, and rebuts wartime medical practices, just as it lays the moral foundation for casualty care in future conflicts.

THE ART OF CARING: EXPLORING HOW DEMENTIA CARE PARTNERS MANAGE CARE CHALLENGES AND FIND RESILIENCE

Approximately 15 million Americans serve as family caregivers for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of age-related dementia and this care can take a physical and emotional toll. Understudied is the process of how families actually provide care in response to care challenges, and how to find respite and resilience amidst care challenges. This symposium considers how caregivers handle daily challenges related to dementia including activities of daily living, behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, general health and medical comorbidities. In addition to characterizing care partner’s distinct styles of management (Leggett et al.) and knowledge and capacity to manage health care (Sadak et al.), the papers also provide perspective on positive aspects of care management such as the impact of respite on positive mood (Wylie et al.), the moderating role of relationship quality on responses to behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (Chunga et al.) and finally how caregivers’ problem-related, self-growth, and help-related behaviors compose their resilience to care challenges (Zhou et al.). To conclude, our discussant Dr. Laura Gitlin will offer insight on cross-cutting implications across studies and offer perspective on how research, intervention science, and clinical practice may better account for caregiver management styles to promote growth and resilience in caregivers and their care partners with dementia.

Advocating for Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: How to Navigate the Prior Authorization Process

In an effort to manage health care costs and avoid improper medication use, prior authorizations (PAs) have become a standard stipulation required by payers in the determination of medication coverage. For gastroenterologists managing patients, especially those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the PA process is time-consuming and further complicated by 2 additional factors: step therapy requirements and failure of payers to recognize updated IBD treatment pathways. These factors often lead to PA denials and cause treatment delays, which in turn can lead to disease progression, ongoing patient suffering, and ultimately an increase in both direct and indirect total costs. In this manuscript, the PA process, PA models, tips and available resources to navigate the PA process, and future advocacy efforts are discussed with the intent to help gastroenterology practices optimize PA outcomes and improve the care provided to patients with IBD and other gastrointestinal disorders.

The future of workplace wellness programs

Purpose A comprehensive look at how technology, health plan design and employee communication can improve workplace wellness programs. Design/methodology/approach There are numerous ways for employers to enhance their workplace wellness programs, helping to improve employee health and more effectively manage health-care costs. Findings There are numerous ways for employers to enhance their workplace wellness programs, helping to improve employee health and more effectively manage health-care costs. Originality/value The paper is original to Strategic HR Review.