Medical care
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To evaluate the psychometric assumptions underlying the construction and scoring of SF-36 scales and summary measures among clinical trial participants with arthritis. ⋯ The SF-36 Health Survey proved to be a psychometrically sound tool for the assessment of the health status of adult participants in clinical trials of arthritis.
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To further validate and assess the reliability and validity of the Trust in Physician Scale. ⋯ The Trust in Physician Scale has desirable psychometric characteristics and demonstrates construct and predictive validity. It appears to be related to, but still distinct from, patient satisfaction with the physician and, thus, provides a valuable additional measure for assessment of the quality of the patient-physician relationship.
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Readmission rates are often proposed as markers for quality of care. However, a consistent link between readmissions and quality has not been established. ⋯ RARs are statistically associated with lower quality of care. However, neither RARs nor other readmissions appear to be useful tools for identifying patients who experience inferior care or for comparing quality among hospitals.