Bmc Health Serv Res
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Sep 2010
Comparative StudyHospital admissions for asthma, diabetes and COPD: is there an association with practice nurse staffing? A cross sectional study using routinely collected data.
Delivering good quality primary care for patients with chronic conditions has the potential to reduce non-elective hospital admissions. Practice nurse staffing levels in England have been linked to attainment of general practice performance targets for some chronic conditions. The aim of this study was to examine whether practice nurse staffing level is similarly associated with non-elective hospital admissions in three clinical areas: asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and diabetes. ⋯ The inconsistent relationship between nurse staffing and patient outcomes across the different conditions and the fact that for diabetes the relationship between staffing and outcomes was in a different direction from the association between staffing and care quality, highlights the need to avoid making a simple causal interpretation of these findings and reduces the possible confidence in such conclusions. There is a need for more research into the organisation and delivery of diabetes care services in general practice, preferably using patient level data; in order to better understand the impact of the different staffing configurations on patient outcomes.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Sep 2010
ReviewWhat is known about the patient's experience of medical tourism? A scoping review.
Medical tourism is understood as travel abroad with the intention of obtaining non-emergency medical services. This practice is the subject of increasing interest, but little is known about its scope. ⋯ This review demonstrates the need for additional research on numerous issues, including: (1) understanding how multiple information sources are consulted and evaluated by patients before deciding upon medical tourism; (2) examining how patients understand the risks of care abroad; (3) gathering patients' prospective and retrospective accounts; and (4) the push and pull factors, as well as the motives of patients to participate in medical tourism. The findings from this scoping review and the knowledge gaps it uncovered also demonstrate that there is great potential for new contributions to our understanding of the patient's experience of medical tourism.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Sep 2010
Comparative StudyPsychiatric inpatient expenditures and public health insurance programmes: analysis of a national database covering the entire South Korean population.
Medical spending on psychiatric hospitalization has been reported to impose a tremendous socio-economic burden on many developed countries with public health insurance programmes. However, there has been no in-depth study of the factors affecting psychiatric inpatient medical expenditures and differentiated these factors across different types of public health insurance programmes. In view of this, this study attempted to explore factors affecting medical expenditures for psychiatric inpatients between two public health insurance programmes covering the entire South Korean population: National Health Insurance (NHI) and National Medical Care Aid (AID). ⋯ This study provides evidence that patient and institutional factors are associated with psychiatric inpatient medical expenditures, and that they may have different effects for beneficiaries of different public health insurance programmes. Policy efforts to reduce psychiatric inpatient medical expenditures should be made differently across the different types of public health insurance programmes.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Sep 2010
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyA randomized controlled trial of telemonitoring in older adults with multiple chronic conditions: the Tele-ERA study.
Older adults with multiple chronic illnesses are at risk for worsening functional and medical status and hospitalization. Home telemonitoring may help slow this decline. This protocol of a randomized controlled trial was designed to help determine the impact of home telemonitoring on hospitalization. The specific aim of the study reads as follows: to determine the effectiveness of home telemonitoring compared with usual care in reducing the combined outcomes of hospitalization and emergency department visits in an at-risk population 60 years of age or older. ⋯ Patients randomized to home telemonitoring will have daily assessments of their health status using the device. Registered nurse monitoring will assess any change in status followed by videoconferencing by a mid-level provider. We obtained trial registration and Institutional Review Board approval.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Aug 2010
International benchmarking of specialty hospitals. A series of case studies on comprehensive cancer centres.
Benchmarking is one of the methods used in business that is applied to hospitals to improve the management of their operations. International comparison between hospitals can explain performance differences. As there is a trend towards specialization of hospitals, this study examines the benchmarking process and the success factors of benchmarking in international specialized cancer centres. ⋯ The improved benchmarking process and the success factors can produce relevant input to improve the operations management of specialty hospitals.