Exam 13: Managing Health Care

Genetic testing is now available for over 1,000 disorders.

Which alternative reflects the relative likelihood of a cesarean section among pregnant women with chronic hypertension (H), pregnant women with "white-coat" hypertension only (WCH), and pregnant with no hypertension (NH)?

The average length of a hospital stay in the United States is 2-3 days.

Kulik and colleagues (1996) found that as compared to other heart surgery patients, heart surgery patients who had a hospital roommate who had already undergone the same type of surgery had ______.

Tyree is 11; his parents have recently divorced. He feels nauseous and throws up most Sunday evenings, when he returns home to his mother after staying with his Dad over the weekend. Tyree may be a ______.

The "adherence ceiling" in medical regimens seems to be about ______ pills per day.

In research cited in the textbook, Ulrich (1984) reviewed the records of patients who had gallbladder surgery during a period of about 10 years and noted whether the patient's hospital room overlooked a group of trees or a brick wall. This is an example of ______ research.

In general, the amount of information patients receive about what to expect during their hospital stay is ______ correlated with the length of the hospital stay.

With respect to models of patient-practitioner interaction, ______ is to doctor-centered as ______ is to patient-centered.

Acupuncture and massage are the most common forms or complementary and alternative medicine.

The textbook suggests that the likelihood of following recommended screening guidelines is positively associated with ______.

Bloch and colleagues (1989) found one-______ of those sampled reported they would consider suicide if they learned they tested positive Huntington's disease.

The anxiety that follows a positive health screening result almost always declines fairly quickly.

Sylvia's pharmacy includes a fridge sticker reminding customers to take their medication in the bag along with the pill bottles. Before tossing the sticker along with the receipt and the bag, Sylvia should know that the sticker is likely to increase the likelihood that she will take the medicine as instructed by a factor of ______.

The rate of nonadherence to medical regimes averages about ______.

Identify and define three of the five stages of delay in the stages of delay model of seeking medical care. Provide a concrete example of each. Finally, identify two influences on the length of delay at one or more of the stages.

Administrators at a large hospital wish to lower costs by decreasing the mean length of hospital stays by 1 day. The team consults with a health psychologist who suggests a number of relatively inexpensive practices that have been empirically demonstrated to shorten hospital stays. Outline some of the health psychologists' suggestions, noting their effect on hospital stays and citing research evidence where applicable.

Concerns about the potential cost may lengthen the delay in seeking health care by as much as a factor of 5.

As compared to the ability of physiological measures to predict health, how patients say they feel is ______.

About one-______ of all Americans use some form of complementary or alternative medicine.