Risk management and healthcare policy
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Risk Manag Healthc Policy · Jan 2014
Posthospital follow-up visits and 30-day readmission rates in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
To examine the effect of a follow-up visit with a primary care physician and/or pulmonologist within the first 30 days of hospital discharge on readmissions, emergency department (ED) visits, and mortality. ⋯ Postdischarge follow-up visits after hospitalization for COPD did not significantly reduce the risk of 30-day readmission or ED visit. However, patients who received postdischarge follow-up visits had significantly reduced 30-day mortality.
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Risk Manag Healthc Policy · Jan 2014
Prognostic factors for death and survival with or without complications in cardiac arrest patients receiving CPR within 24 hours of anesthesia for emergency surgery.
To determine prognostic factors for death and survival with or without complications in cardiac arrest patients who received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) within 24 hours of receiving anesthesia for emergency surgery. ⋯ The mortality and morbidity in patients who received anesthesia for emergency surgery within 24 hours of their first CPR were high, and were associated with identifiable patient comorbidity, age, shock, anatomic site of operation, the timing of cardiac arrest, EKG rhythm, and the duration of CPR. EKG monitoring helps to identify cardiac arrest quickly and diagnose the EKG rhythm as a shockable or nonshockable rhythm, with CPR being performed as per the American Heart Association (AHA) CPR Guidelines 2010. The use of the fast track system in combination with an interdisciplinary team for surgery, CPR, and postoperative care helps to rescue patients in a short time.
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Risk Manag Healthc Policy · Jan 2012
Economics of less invasive spinal surgery: an analysis of hospital cost differences between open and minimally invasive instrumented spinal fusion procedures during the perioperative period.
There is great debate about the costs and benefits of technology-driven medical interventions such as instrumented lumbar fusion. With most analyses using charge data, the actual costs incurred by medical institutions performing these procedures are not well understood. The object of the current study was to examine the differences in hospital operating costs between open and minimally invasive spine surgery (MIS) during the perioperative period. ⋯ III CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This work represents a true cost-of-operating comparison between open and MIS approaches for lumbar spine fusion, which has relevance to surgeons, hospitals and payers in medical decision-making.
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Risk Manag Healthc Policy · Jan 2010
Protecting children: a survey of caregivers' knowledge of Georgia's child restraint laws.
The leading cause of injury and death among children in the United States is motor vehicle crashes. Even though restraint laws are in place and public awareness campaigns and educational interventions have increased, many children are still improperly restrained or not restrained at all. When correctly used, child restraints significantly reduce risk of injury or death. ⋯ The results from this study describe baseline knowledge among a sample of participants at Inspection Station activities held in Cobb County, Georgia. These results can help inform tailoring of future programming so that the impact of enhanced health education/prevention messages for intended populations can be maximized and health child injury risk related to improper restraints can be minimized.