In this collection, poems written across many years share the page with bold, new offerings to celebrate a serious poet whose language is lyric and evocative. Sheila Burke commemorates and confronts events we will all recognize, paying special attention to those issues women have struggled with in the tumultuous 20th Century. She extols motherhood and experiments with the new roles of women. She examines mental illness, the disintegration of a marriage and particularly, the indignities of aging. Influenced by Robert Lowell's groundbreaking workshop at Harvard during the late 1950s, she elaborates on the confessional style made famous by participants, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. She does not spare herself or her readers in verse that chronicles her sorrows as well as her joys. Her poems can make you laugh or cry but will not be easily forgotten.

The poems in this debut volume have been written over many years and introduce a bold, new voice to take note of. In language, lyric and evocative, Sheila Burke celebrates and confronts events we all recognize with special attention to those issues women have faced in the tumultuous 20th century. She extols motherhood and experiments with the new roles of women. She examines mental illness and the disintegration of a marriage. Influenced by Robert Lowell's ground-breaking workshop at Harvard during the late 1950s, she embraces the confessional style made famous by participants, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. She doesn't spare herself or her readers in verse that chronicles her sorrows as well as her joys. Her poems can make you laugh or cry and are not easily forgotten.

As the United States devotes extensive resources to health care, evaluating how successfully the U.S. system delivers high-quality, high-value care in an equitable manner is essential. At the request of Congress, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) annually produces the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and the National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR). The reports have revealed areas in which health care performance has improved over time, but they also have identified major shortcomings. After five years of producing the NHQR and NHDR, AHRQ asked the IOM for guidance on how to improve the next generation of reports. The IOM concludes that the NHQR and NHDR can be improved in ways that would make them more influential in promoting change in the health care system. In addition to being sources of data on past trends, the national healthcare reports can provide more detailed insights into current performance, establish the value of closing gaps in quality and equity, and project the time required to bridge those gaps at the current pace of improvement. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Introduction 2 Re-Envisioning the NHQR and NHDR 3 Updating the Framework for the NHQR and NHDR 4 Adopting a More Quantitative and Transparent Measure Selection Process 5 Enhancing Data Resources 6 Improving Presentation of Information 7 Implementing Recommended Changes Acronyms Appendix A: Previous IOM Recommendations for the National Healthcare Reports Appendix B: Key Findings of the NHQRs and NHDRs Appendix C: Previous Conceptual Framework Appendix D: Measurement Opportunities for the Framework's Components of Quality Care Appendix E: HHS Interagency Workgroup for the NHQR and NHDR Appendix F: The Expected Population Value of Quality Indicator Reporting (EPV-QIR): A Framework for Prioritizing Healthcare Performance Measurement Appendix G: IOM Subcommittee on Standardized Collection of Race/Ethnicity Data for Healthcare Quality Improvement: Recommendations Appendix H: Additional Assessments of Data Presentation in the NHQR and NHDR Appendix I: An Illustrative Funding Example Appendix J: Committee Member and Staff Biographies