Top 10 Most Read Perspectives of 2021
The National Academy of Medicine’s NAM Perspectives platform extends the National Academies’ convening and advising functions by providing a venue for leading health, medical, science, and policy experts to reflect on issues and opportunities important to the advancement of health, health care, and biomedical science. NAM Perspectives are individually-authored papers that do not reflect consensus positions of the NAM, the National Academies, or the authors’ organizations. They are not reports of the National Academies.
Below, we are pleased to present the top 10 most read NAM Perspectives papers of 2021. These manuscripts cover a wide array of issues, from clinician burnout and well-being to the social determinants of health. Please enjoy revisiting these NAM Perspectives, and sign up to receive more Perspectives in 2022! If you are interested in authoring an NAM Perspectives paper in 2022, please be in touch with Jenna Ogilvie at jogilvie@nas.edu.
10. Bringing a Systems Approach to Health
G. Kaplan, G. Bo-Linn, P. Carayon, P. Pronovost, W. Rouse, P. Reid, and R. Saunders
A systems approach improves health by considering the multiple elements involved in caring for patients and the multiple factors influencing health. By understanding how these elements operate independently, as well as how they depend on one another, Bringing a Systems Approach to Health proposes a systems approach to help with the design and integration of people, processes, policies, and organizations to promote better health at a lower cost. These approaches can be useful for all levels of the health system—patient-clinician interaction, health care unit, organization, community, and nation—with different tools available for the needs at different levels and across levels. Progress in spreading systems tools depends on centering these initiatives on patients and the public, as well as engaging patients as vital partners in their use.
Tweet this! In the #10 most-read #NAMPerspectives paper of 2021, read how to embed systems approaches for improving the health of all Americans and promoting better health at lower cost: https://bit.ly/3dOL97M #NAMTop10
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9. Duty to Plan: Health Care, Crisis Standards of Care, and Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2
J. L. Hick, D. Hanfling, M. K. Wynia, and A. T. Pavia
The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and resulting disease state COVID-19 pose a direct threat to an over-burdened U.S. medical care system and supporting supply chains for medications and materials. The principles of crisis standards of care (CSC) initially framed by the Institute of Medicine in 2009 ensure fair processes are in place to make clinically informed decisions about scarce resource allocation during an epidemic. This may include strategies such as preparing, conserving, substituting, adapting, re-using, and re-allocating resources. In Duty to Plan: Health Care, Crisis Standards of Care, and Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 for health care planners and clinicians, the authors discuss the application of CSC principles to clinical care, including personal protective equipment, critical care, and outpatient and emergency department capacity challenges posed by a coronavirus or other major epidemic or pandemic event. Health care facilities should be developing tiered, proactive strategies using the best available clinical information and building on their existing surge capacity plans to optimize resource use in the event the current outbreak spreads and creates severe resource demands. Health care systems and providers must be prepared to obtain the most benefit from limited resources while mitigating harms to individuals, the health care system, and society.
Tweet this! The #9 most read #NAMPerspectives of 2021 provides an outline for how health systems can plan to best allocate resources and staffing to respond to the spread of an infectious disease outbreak like #COVID19: https://doi.org/10.31478/202003b #NAMTop10
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8. Health Literacy and Health Education in Schools: Collaboration for Action
M. E. Auld, M. P. Allen, C. Hampton, J. H. Montes, C. Sherry, A. D. Mickalide, R. A. Logan, W. Alvarado-Little, and K. Parson
The data shows that healthy students are better learners, but comprehensive and standardized health education in classrooms across the nation remains a challenge. Teaching students about their health can lead to improved individual healthy behaviors, as well as improved health for the community. Health literacy is a critical aspect of understanding health but has not yet been systematically integrated into health education. Health Literacy and Health Education in Schools: Collaboration for Action calls for health literacy to become an integral part of health education nationwide. The discussion paper outlines upstream and systems-level approaches to ensuring comprehensive health education, and also identifies a number of case studies and best practices that schools and educators can model.
Tweet this! Standardizing strategies for how health education is implemented in schools is a challenge. Authors of our the #8 most-read #NAMPerspectives of 2021 propose integrated strategies that can improve health and health literacy https://bit.ly/33nMr7P #NAMTop10
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7. People in Hong Kong Have the Longest Life Expectancy in the World: Some Possible Explanations
R. Y. Chung, and Sir M. Marmot
Since 1985, Japan has led the world in life expectancy, but Hong Kong, the once British colony and now a special administrative region of China, has taken over the lead position since 2010. With its extremely rapid post–World War II (WWII) economic development and its associated epidemiological transition from communicable to noncommunicable diseases as the leading causes of death, Hong Kong’s life expectancy has seen a steady increase over the past half-century with 81.9 years for men and 87.6 years for women in 2017. People in Hong Kong Have the Longest Life Expectancy in the World: Some Possible Explanations asks the question is why this number has risen so steadily, and whether there is anything that can be learned from the Hong Kong experience for the world at large.
Tweet this! Examining the life expectancy and contributing factors of those who live in Hong Kong could inform approaches to healthy longevity worldwide. The #7 most read #NAMPerspectives of 2021 breaks down how: https://bit.ly/2RqEkh4 #NAMTop10
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6. An Equity Agenda for the Field of Health Care Quality Improvement
M. O’Kane, S. Agrawal, L. Binder, V. Dzau, T. K. Gandhi, R. Harrington, K. Mate, P. McGann, D. Meyers, P. Rosen, M. Schreiber, and D. Schummers
Centering equity is imperative in delivering high-quality health care. Authors of An Equity Agenda for the Field of Health Care Quality Improvement have identified priorities that can help advance racial equity within the U.S. health care and delivery systems. Major areas of potential advancement include fostering patient trust in the health care system, increasing community engagement opportunities, improving leadership and culture, and rewarding organizations for prioritizing equity.
Tweet this! The #6 most-read #NAMPerspectives paper of 2021 emphasizes that equity must be embedded at the core of the US health care system in order to provide the best outcomes for patients and communities. Read more: https://bit.ly/2VHX6XA #NAMTop10
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5. Burnout Among Health Care Professionals: A Call to Explore and Address this Underrecognized Threat to Safe, High-Quality Care
L.N. Dyrbye, T.D. Shanafelt, C.A. Sinsky, P.F. Cipriano, J. Bhatt, A. Ommaya, C.P. West, and D. Meyers
Burnout Among Health Care Professionals: A Call to Explore and Address This Underrecognized Threat to Safe, High-Quality Care discusses how the United States health care system is rapidly changing in an effort to deliver better care, improve health, and lower costs while providing care for an aging population with high rates of chronic disease and co-morbidities. Among the changes affecting clinical practice are new payment and delivery approaches, electronic health records, patient portals, and publicly reported quality metrics—all of which change the landscape of how care is provided, documented, and reimbursed. Navigating these changes are health care professionals (HCPs), whose daily work is critical to the success of health care improvement. Unfortunately, as a result of these changes and resulting added pressures, many HCPs are burned out, a syndrome characterized by a high degree of emotional exhaustion and high depersonalization (i.e., cynicism), and a low sense of personal accomplishment from work.
Tweet this! Clinician burnout affects patient safety and satisfaction, productivity, and health care costs. The #5 most-read #NAMPerspectives paper of 2021 examines how research can reduce burnout: http://ow.ly/RbnJ30hs1DI #NAMTop10 #ClinicianWellBeing
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4. Identifying Credible Sources of Health Information in Social Media: Principles and Attributes
R. S. Kington, S. Arnesen, W. Y. S. Chou, S. J. Curry, D. Lazer, and A. M. Villarruel
People seek and receive health information from a wide variety of sources. Increasing numbers of Americans have turned to internet sources for health and medical information in recent years, with approximately 3 out of 4 searching for health information online today. The authors of Identifying Credible Sources of Health Information in Social Media: Principles and Attributes developed a set of initial principles and attributes that could inform social media platforms’ identification and possible elevation of credible sources of health information. They also call for engagement between social media platforms, consumers, & health organizations to determine what affects the availability & accessibility of high-quality health information. Read more:
Tweet this! The #COVID19 pandemic has highlighted the need for credible sources of health information in social media. The #4 most read #NAMPerspectives of 2021 proposes potential principles and attributes to identify credible sources: http://bit.ly/2uAHzZ7 #NAMTop10
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3. Alternatives to Antibiotics: Why and How
H. K. Allen
Alternatives to Antibiotics: Why and How discusses how the antibiotic resistance problem is caused by the evolution and transfer of genes that confer resistance to medically important antibiotics into human pathogens. The acquisition of such resistance genes by pathogens complicates disease treatment, increases health care costs, and increases morbidity and mortality in humans and animals. As antibiotic resistance continues to evolve, antibiotics of so-called last resort become even more precious. Reducing or preventing the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes into human pathogens is currently of high international importance.
Tweet this! As antibiotic resistance continues to accelerate, solutions are more important than ever. Our #3 most-read #NAMPerspectives paper of 2021 offers a look at alternatives: http://bit.ly/2uAHzZ7 #NAMTop10
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2. Public Health COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs
K. DeSalvo, B. Hughes, M. Bassett, G. Benjamin, M. Fraser, S. Galea, J. Nadine Gracia, and J. Howard
The #2 most read NAM Perspectives paper focuses on opportunities for health system transformation after #COVID-19. Public Health COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs provides a systematic review of the pre-pandemic state of public health, public health’s response to COVID-19, and opportunities for reinforcing and transforming public health after the pandemic recedes. The paper identifies long-standing structural challenges and identifies opportunities to close these gaps in the future.
Tweet this! The first of nine papers on opportunities for health system transformation after #COVID19 was the #2 most-read #NAMPerspectives paper of 2021. Authors outline priority actions & policy considerations for reinforcing public health infrastructure: https://bit.ly/3oSTEoM #NAMTop10
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1. Social Determinants of Health 101 for Health Care: Five Plus Five
S. Magnan
As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), the social determinants of health (SDoH) are “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels.” The social determinants of health also determine access and quality of medical care—sometimes referred to as medical social determinants of health. Future opportunities may exist in genetics and biological determinants; however, whether modifying these will be as feasible as modifying the social determinants of health is unknown. Social Determinants of Health 101 for Health Care: Five Plus Five considers what we know and what we need to learn about SDoH to achieve the national quality strategy of better care, healthy people/healthy communities, and affordable care.
Tweet this! The #1 most-read #NAMPerspectives paper of 2021 highlights that addressing the social determinants of health in health care is imperative for improved patient care. http://ow.ly/aysf30hs11j #NAMTop10
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