BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE the relationship between processes of care and the risk of medical complications in patients with stroke remains unclear. We therefore examined the association in a population-based follow-up study. METHODS we identified 11 757 patients admitted for stroke to stroke units in 2 Danish counties in 2003 to 2008. The examined processes of care included early admission to a ...

This paper describes experiences in using precise definitions of medical processes as the basis for analyses aimed at finding and correcting defects leading to improvements in patient safety. The work entails the use of the Little-JIL process definition language for creating the precise definitions, the Propel system for creating precise specifications of process requirements, and the FLAVERS s...

Professor J S Metcalfe, University of Manchester Mr Andrew James, University of Manchester Dr Andrew McMeekin, University of Manchester The principal aim of this project was to understand the nature of the apparently uneven growth of innovation and practice in medicine by comparing and contrasting developments in two areas (cardiology and ophthalmology) and across two medical systems (the UK an...

This paper outlines the MDevSPICE-Adept process assessment method. MDevSPICE-Adept is a lightweight process assessment method that has been created for the MDevSPICE software process assessment model which is currently being developed for the medical device industry. MDevSPICE is a fully validated release of a medical device software process assessment model (formerly known as Medi SPICE), whic...

Medical treatment decisions involve complex tradeoffs between the risks and benefits of various treatment options. The diversity of treatment options that patients can choose over time, and uncertainties in future health outcomes result in a difficult sequential decision making problem. Markov decision processes (MDPs) are commonly used to study medical treatment decisions; however, optimal pol...

whole range of medical implants is justified by their superior mechanical properties (hardness, stiffness, etc.) compared, for example, to polymers. Other properties like biocompatibility or visibility in X-ray images also can be mentioned. One of their drawbacks is that electrochemical reactions take place on metallic surfaces in the human body. To replicate the real environment as closely as ...

The purpose of this study was to describe patient outcomes in Army Medical Centers, identify differences in outcomes between mixed medical-surgical bed and specialty intensive care units (ICUs), and explore predictive models for outcomes attributable to nursing structure and processes. Data were collected from 138 patients and 103 nurses in four medical-surgical and four ICUs in two Army Medica...

OBJECTIVE Psychiatrists are in a key position to teach medical students about psychotherapy. Whilst at first it may appear a formidable task, it need not be so. It should however, have applicability to the bulk of students, who will not go on to psychiatry training. CONCLUSIONS We outline some potentially useful strategies to help clinicians teach aspects of psychotherapy to students: making ...

Medical treatment processes in hospitals are complex interactions of various actors, in the course of which treatment decisions have to be made.Clinical practice guidelines and clinical pathways provide guidance for practicioners for certain diseases. Especially for multimorbid patients several guidelines and pathways might apply. Current process-oriented IT support in hospitals, however, does ...

Medical treatment decisions involve complex tradeoffs between the risks and benefits of various treatment options. The diversity of treatment options that patients can choose over time and uncertainties in future health outcomes, result in a difficult sequential decision making problem. Markov decision processes (MDPs) are commonly used to study medical treatment decisions; however, optimal pol...