OBJECTIVE This paper describes an educational model for increasing and retaining the knowledge of pressure ulcer prevention and management in veterans with spinal cord injury (SCI) or multiple sclerosis (MS) who have had surgical repair of a pressure ulcer. It also describes the correlates of pressure ulcer knowledge at admission and discharge. METHODS Before pressure ulcer surgery, 41 male v...

BACKGROUND Currently, there is no standardised tool used to capture morbidity following abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair. The aim of this prospective observational study was to validate the Postoperative Morbidity Survey (POMS) according to its two guiding principles: to only capture morbidity substantial enough to delay discharge from hospital and to be a rapid, simple screening tool. ...

BACKGROUND The objective of this work was to explore the impact on parents of the bronchiolitis hospitalization of their infant using the Impact of Bronchiolitis Hospitalization Questionnaire (IBHQ©). METHODS Four hundred sixty-three infants aged less than 1 year and hospitalized for bronchiolitis were included in a French observational study during the 2008-2009 season. Parents were asked to...

Hospital readmissions contribute significantly to the cost of medical care, and may reflect unresolved problems at discharge or a lack of resources in post-hospital care. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of patient characteristics at discharge, the need for nursing care, discharge planning program, post-hospital care arrangements, and caregiver characteristics on readmissions ...

BACKGROUND Older adults with a range of comorbidities are often prescribed multiple medications, which may impact on their function and cognition and increase the potential for drug interactions and adverse events. AIMS This study investigated the extent of polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medications in patients receiving post-discharge transitional home care and explored the assoc...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the efficacy and safety of alvimopan, 12 mg, administered orally 30 to 90 minutes preoperatively and twice daily postoperatively in conjunction with a standardized accelerated postoperative care pathway for managing postoperative ileus after bowel resection. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS This multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, phase 3 trial enr...

BACKGROUND Mothers of very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants often struggle to establish and maintain a milk supply. Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC Children's) data from 2005 to 2011 showed that while the total percentage of all neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) babies being discharged on breastmilk had remained stable, the percentage of VLBW babies with breastmilk at discharge had ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between host characteristics (age and side of body affected) and program variables (lengths of stay in acute care and rehabilitation, levels of functional ability at admission and discharge, and rates of community discharge). METHODS A sample of 7,905 patients was drawn from medical rehabilitation facilities enrolle...

Adults aged 65 and older account for one third of all hospitalizations in the United States.(1) Almost one fifth (19.6%) of Medicare beneficiaries discharged from an acute care hospital are readmitted within 30 days.(2) High readmission rates have been attributed to inadequate discharge preparation, lack of patient and family caregiver readiness, poor discharge transition coordination, and unsu...

The purpose of this study is to explore changes in belief orientation during treatment and the impact of increased daily spiritual experiences (DSE) on adolescent treatment response. One-hundred ninety-five adolescents court-referred to a 2-month residential treatment program were assessed at intake and discharge. Forty percent of youth who entered treatment as agnostic or atheist identified th...