BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Although implemented in 1998, no research has examined how well the Australian National Subacute and Nonacute Patient (AN-SNAP) Casemix Classification predicts length of stay (LOS), discharge destination, and functional improvement in public hospital stroke rehabilitation units in Australia. METHODS 406 consecutive admissions to 3 stroke rehabilitation units in Queensla...

Nosocomial or hospital acquired infections have become a major cause of morbidity and mortality today. The reported rates of nosocomial infection vary depending on the efficiency of the surveillance system and the definitions of infection employed. In the United States it has been estimated that about 5% of hospitalised patients acquire a nosocomial infection. This works out to be nearly 2 mill...

The quality of financial analysts’ equity research is pivotal for an efficient capital market. This study investigates the quality of earnings forecasts and stock recommendations for initial public offerings (IPOs) in Germany. The empirical study includes 12,605 earnings forecasts and 6,209 stock recommendations of individual analysts for the time period from 1997 to 2004. The focus of this stu...

INTRODUCTION We studied the richness and abundance of ant species, their bacteria and the bacteria isolated from patient clinical samples. METHODS Ants were collected with baited traps at 64 sites in a public hospital in São Luis, State of Maranhão, Brazil. RESULTS In total, 1,659 ants from 14 species were captured. The most frequent species were Crematogaster victima, Solenopsis saevissima...

Lebanon has a highly fragmented health care system. The Lebanese population receives its health care services through a system dominated by the private sector that is dependent to a large extent on public sector financing. Lebanon spends about 83% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health. This study consists of observations on the utilization of the Ministry of Public Health (MOH) program ...

This paper investigates whether Google Trends search information can improve forecasts of cinema admissions, over and above those based on seasonal patterns in the data. Using monthly data for the UK for the period 2004(1) to 2008(12) we examine various forecasting models that incorporate Google Trends search information. We find clear evidence that Google Trends data on searches relevant to ci...

BACKGROUND Employment of utilization review instruments is a method for managing costs and efficiency in the healthcare systems. OBJECTIVES This study developed an instrument for measuring the level of inappropriate acute hospital admissions and days of care in Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS The American version of the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) was modified, using the agreement ...

Methods Retrospective cohort study using the national hospitalization database of patients older than 15 years admitted to public hospitals from 2005 to 2010. These patients were residents in 10 state capital cities comprising all geographic regions of the country. Sepsis episodes were identified according to sepsis-associated International Classification of Diseases codes (ICD-10) [1]. Patient...

Recent financial woes in America have prompted a closer look at the relationship between the health of an economy and the decisions of its households. The Great Recession, in particular, was driven partly by mounting household debt and plummeting household spending. Now, while the rebounding savings rate has reversed a longstanding trend, it has weakened the economic recovery. In “Consumption a...

This cross-sectional study compared cognitive-related variables for caesarean delivery in a private and public hospital in Tehran and assessed their association with maternal preference for delivery mode. A sample of 300 pregnant women in their final trimester of uncomplicated pregnancy was recruited from 1 private and 1 public hospital. They completed the Fear of Pain, Childbirth Attitude and ...