BMC research notes
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Perioperative patient safety indicators and hospital surgical volumes.
Since the late 1990s, patient safety has been an important policy issue in developed countries. To evaluate the effectiveness of the activities of patient safety, it is necessary to quantitatively assess the incidence of adverse events by types of failure mode using tangible data. The purpose of this study is to calculate patient safety indicators (PSIs) using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination/per-diem payment system (DPC/PDPS) reimbursement data and to elucidate the relationship between perioperative PSIs and hospital surgical volume. ⋯ We demonstrated that PSIs can be calculated using DPC/PDPS data and perioperative PSIs were related to hospital surgical volume. Further investigations focusing on identifying risk factors for poor PSIs and effective support to these hospitals are needed.
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Clinical Trial
Agent consumption with the Zeus® in the automated closed circuit anesthesia mode with O2/air mixtures.
Earlier software versions of the Zeus® (Lübeck, Dräger, Germany) failed to provide true closed circuit anesthesia (CCA) conditions. We examined whether the latest software (SW 4.03 MK 04672-00) achieves this goal. ⋯ Under the conditions specified, the Zeus® approaches CCA conditions so closely that further reductions in agent usage would have minimal economic significance.
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The AS04-adjuvanted bivalent L1 virus-like-particle (VLP) vaccine (Cervarix™) against infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16/18 holds great promise to prevent HPV16/18 infections and associated neoplasias, but it is important to rule out significant co-factors of the neoplasias like smoking. ⋯ Our data suggest that while smoking does not interfere with the quantity of vaccine-induced peak IgG levels, it may affect the avidity of IgG induced by HPV16/18 vaccination.
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Observational Study
Procalcitonin as a prognostic marker for sepsis: a prospective observational study.
Procalcitonin is useful for the diagnosis of sepsis but its prognostic value regarding mortality is unclear. This prospective observational study was designed to study the prognostic value of procalcitonin in prediction of 28 day mortality in patients of sepsis. Fifty-four consecutive patients of sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock defined using the 2001 Consensus Conference SCCM/ESICM/ACCP/ATS/SIS criteria from medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a tertiary care center in New Delhi, India were enrolled from July 2011 to June 2013. Procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) measurements were recorded on day 1, day 7 and day 28 of follow up. ⋯ A Procalcitonin value [greater than or equal to]7 ng/ml obtained at the time of admission to the ICU is a predictor of short-term mortality and thus may allow the identification of those septic patients at increased mortality risk, and help improve their treatment.
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Comparative Study
Assessing time to treatment and patient inflow in a Danish emergency department: a cohort study using data from electronic emergency screen boards.
The purpose of this study was to assess and describe the patient inflow during a 1-month period in a Danish emergency department and to evaluate if the intended times to treatment (TTT) related to category of triage were met. ⋯ The results demonstrated varying patterns of patient inflow between weekdays and weekends. There was a significantly increased risk of being attended late when arriving on evenings and nights. Likewise higher acuity was associated with exceeded TTT.