Planning for capital development of public hospitals in Victoria is guided by a multi-stage process with comprehensive data analysis and thorough approval processes at each of the stages. The long development time frames and the limitations in the data available to project service utilisation may negatively impact upon the service planning processes, and in some cases newly developed hospitals ...

BACKGROUND In this paper, the hypothesis that the spatial distribution of hospital beds is more even in countries with socialist or social democratic governments than in countries with conservative or Christian democratic governments was tested. To avoid the confounding influences of historical and institutional differences between countries, we used the Federal Republic of Germany as a case st...

BACKGROUND A significant proportion of older people state a preference to die at home. However, the vast majority of people in hospital recognised as dying subsequently die there. OBJECTIVES To identify the proportion of older people dying in hospital where the possibility of ending life elsewhere was explored. To identify factors that could support hospital staff to enable patients' wishes t...

BACKGROUND As per the "Disaster Management Act, 2005" of India, it is mandatory for government hospitals in India to prepare a disaster plan. This study aimed to prepare a disaster manual of a 1 900 bed tertiary care hospital, in consultation and involvement of all concerned stakeholders. METHODS A committee of members from hospital administration, clinical, diagnostic and supportive departme...

There is a dearth of literature on priority setting and resource allocation (PSRA) practices in hospitals, particularly in low and middle income countries (LMICs). Using a case study approach, we examined PSRA practices in 2 public hospitals in coastal Kenya. We collected data through a combination of in-depth interviews of national level policy makers, hospital managers, and frontline practiti...

BACKGROUND Advance care planning is the process of establishing a patient's goals and preferences for future care. Previous research has demonstrated a need to improve patient-physician communication around advance care planning. A critical time for advance care planning conversations is the day of admission to the hospital. METHODS A survey of internal medicine residents was administered at ...

Background: The fatal pandemics of infectious diseases and the possibility of using microorganisms as biological weapons are both rising worldwide. Hospitals are vital organizations in response to biological disasters and have a crucial role in the treatment of patients. Despite the advances in studies about hospital planning and performance during crises, there are no internationally accepted ...

We conducted multivariate analyses to examine whether high health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration and large share of for-profit health plans in a market reduced hospital cost and revenue growth rates between 1989 and 1998. We found that hospitals in high HMO areas experienced revenue and cost growth rates that were 21 and 18 percentage points, respectively, below hospitals in low HMO...