INTRODUCTION Use of the hospital emergency department (ED) for medical conditions not likely to require immediate treatment is a controversial topic. It has been faulted for ED overcrowding, increased expenditures, and decreased quality of care. On the other hand, such avoidable ED utilization may be a manifestation of barriers to primary care access. METHODS A random 10% subsample of all ED ...

OBJECTIVE To assess the overall effect of the English urgent referral pathway on cancer survival. SETTING 8049 general practices in England. DESIGN Cohort study. Linked information from the national Cancer Waiting Times database, NHS Exeter database, and National Cancer Register was used to estimate mortality in patients in relation to the propensity of their general practice to use the urg...

BACKGROUND Although much is known about the risk factors for poor outcome in patients hospitalized with acute heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction, much less is known about the syndrome of acute heart failure primarily affecting the right ventricle (acute right heart failure). METHODS AND RESULTS By using Stanford Hospital's pulmonary hypertension database, we identified consecutive...