In order to shorten queues to healthcare, the Swedish government has introduced a yearly "queue billion" that is paid out to the county councils in proportion to how successful they are in reducing queues. However, only the queues for first visits are covered. Evidence has accumulated that queues for return visits have become longer. This affects the chronically and severely ill. Swedish physic...

Bacterial conjunctivitis is a common infectious disease of the eye, characterized by conjunctival hyperemia, eyelid edema, and purulent discharge. Although the prevalence and incidence are not well reported, bacterial conjunctivitis represents one of the most frequent causes of patient visits to both primary care physicians and ophthalmologists. Most cases of nongonococcal and nonchlamydial bac...

BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common, growing, and costly medical condition. We aimed to evaluate the impact of a management algorithm for symptomatic AF that used an emergency department observation unit on hospital admission rates and patient outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS This retrospective cohort study compared 563 patients who presented consecutively in the year after implement...

BACKGROUND Predictors of unscheduled return visits (URV), best time-frame to evaluate URV rate and clinical relationship between both visits have not yet been determined for the elderly following an ED visit. METHODS We conducted a prospective-observational study including 11,521 patients aged ≥75-years and discharged from ED (5,368 patients (53.5%)) or hospitalized after ED visit (6,153 pati...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of emergency single-dose levonorgestrel contraception in preventing unintended pregnancies among woman who visited the emergency department (ED) due to sexual assault (SA). METHODS We conducted a retrospective chart review in a university hospital in South Korea. Cases from November 10, 2006 to November 9, 2009 were enrolled. Information from the initial ...

OBJECTIVE To document follow-up care received by children identified with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by primary care clinicians (PCCs). STUDY DESIGN We surveyed families of children 4 to 15 years of age who had been diagnosed with ADHD. At an index office visit, parents and clinicians completed questionnaires. Six months after the index visit, parents completed a question...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the utilization and financial outcomes of a telephonic nursing disease-management program for elderly patients with heart failure. DESIGN A 1-year concurrent matched-cohort study employing propensity score matching. SETTING Medicare+Choice recipients residing in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. PARTICIPANTS A total of 533 program participants aged 65 and older matche...

BACKGROUND Gastrointestinal foreign body (GFB) ingestion is a common problem and often results in surgical consultation. Current literature is limited to case reports and fails to provide data regarding the management of sharp GFB ingestion. We hypothesized that patients who ingest sharp objects rarely have perforation or obstruction requiring surgical intervention. METHODS Patients presentin...

More intensive management can improve control blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive patients. However, many would posit that treatment intensification (TI) is not beneficial in the face of suboptimal adherence. We investigated whether the effect of TI on BP varies by adherence. We enrolled 819 patients with hypertension, managed in primary care at an academically-affiliated inner-city hospital. W...

BACKGROUND The successful implementation of maternal vaccination relies on results of clinical trials, considering the prenatal and postnatal attendance at selected healthcare institutions. This study evaluated factors influencing maternal/infant access to healthcare facilities to identify potential barriers to participation in future clinical trials on maternal vaccination. METHODS In this p...