Bmc Health Serv Res
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Bmc Health Serv Res · May 2016
Multicenter Study Observational StudyAssessment of the contribution of morbidity and mortality conferences to quality and safety improvement: a survey of participants' perceptions.
Evidence for the effectiveness of the morbidity and mortality conferences in improving patient safety is lacking. The aim of this survey was to assess the opinion of participants concerning the benefits and the functioning of morbidity and mortality conferences, according to their organizational characteristics. ⋯ Morbidity and mortality conferences were positively perceived. These results suggest that a structured framework and thoroughly analyzing cases improve their effectiveness.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · May 2016
Economic burden of multimorbidity among older adults: impact on healthcare and societal costs.
Multimorbidity is not uncommon and the associated impact it places on healthcare utilisation and societal costs is of increased concern. The aim of the current study was to estimate the economic burden of multimorbidity among older adults in Singapore by investigating its association with the healthcare and societal resource use and cost. ⋯ Multimorbidity was associated with substantially higher healthcare utilisation and social care costs among older adults in Singapore. With the prevalence of multimorbidity increasing, especially as the population ages, we need healthcare systems that are evolving to address the emerging challenges associated with multimorbidity and the respective healthcare and societal costs.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Apr 2016
The effect of pre-existing health conditions on the cost of recovery from road traffic injury: insights from data linkage of medicare and compensable injury claims in Victoria, Australia.
Comorbidity is known to affect length of hospital stay and mortality after trauma but less is known about its impact on recovery beyond the immediate post-accident care period. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of pre-existing health conditions in the cost of recovery from road traffic injury using health service use records for 1 year before and after the injury. ⋯ Services related to pre-existing conditions, mainly chronic and surgery-related, are likely to increase certain components of cost of recovery after road traffic trauma but pre-existing physical health has little impact on the overall recovery costs.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Apr 2016
Integrating care for frequent users of emergency departments: implementation evaluation of a brief multi-organizational intensive case management intervention.
Addressing the needs of frequent users of emergency departments (EDs) is a health system priority in many jurisdictions. This study describes stakeholder perspectives on the implementation of a multi-organizational brief intervention designed to support integration and continuity of care for frequent ED users with mental health and addictions problems, focusing on perceived barriers and facilitators to early implementation in a large urban centre. ⋯ A multi-organizational brief intervention is an acceptable model to support integration of hospital, primary and community care for frequent ED users. The study highlights the importance of early implementation evaluation to identify potential solutions to implementation barriers that may be applicable to many jurisdictions.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Apr 2016
Impact of a well-developed primary care system on the length of stay in emergency departments in the Netherlands: a multicenter study.
The Netherlands has a well-developed primary care system, which increasingly collaborates with hospital emergency departments (EDs). In this setting, insight into crowding in EDs is limited. This study explored links between patients' ED Length of Stay (LOS) and their care pathways. ⋯ With 130 min, the median LOS in Dutch EDs is relatively short, comparing to other Western countries, which ranges from 176 to 480 min. Although integration of EDs with out-of-hours primary care was not related to LOS, the strong primary care system probably contributed to the overall short LOS of ED patients in the Netherlands.