OBJECTIVE Patient safety studies have identified older adults as a high-risk group for adverse events (AEs). As frequent users of the emergency department (ED), they are vulnerable to the negative consequences of ED crowding. The study objective was to determine whether a prolonged ED stay is associated with an increased risk for the occurrence of AEs for older patients admitted to hospital. ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of spending time as an outlier (ie, an inpatient who spends time away from his or her "home" ward) on the frequency of emergency calls for patients admitted to a tertiary referral hospital. DESIGN, SETTING AND PATIENTS Observational cohort study of all patients admitted to a university-affiliated tertiary referral hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, between 1 Ju...

This study aimed to estimate cost of in-patient medical care due to stroke in a tertiary hospital in Malaysia. A retrospective analysis of stroke patients admitted to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) between January 2005 and December 2008 were conducted. Cost evaluation was undertaken from the health provider's perspective using a top-down costing approach. Mean length of s...

INTRODUCTION Acute mesenteric ischemia is a surgical emergency that entails complex, multi-modal management, but its epidemiology and outcomes remain poorly defined. The aim of this study was to perform a population analysis of the contemporary incidence and outcomes of mesenteric ischemia. METHODS This was a retrospective analysis of acute mesenteric ischemia in the state of Maryland during ...

The objective of this study was to estimate household costs (direct medical, direct non-medical and opportunity costs) associated with outpatient consultations and inpatient admissions at three tertiary hospitals in Lao PDR (national, university and regional hospitals). Revolving drug funds are the main sources of revenue for the facilities. We used outpatient exit interviews and interviews wit...

OBJECTIVES To characterize the use of and disposition from a tertiary pediatric emergency department (PED) by children with chronic conditions with varying degrees of medical complexity. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study using a dataset of all registered PED patient visits at Seattle Children's Hospital from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2009. Children's medical comple...

BACKGROUND Agonist maintenance therapy with methadone is amongst the preferred remedies for treating opioid dependence and is increasingly supported by the regional governments in this part of the world. In this study we have investigated the clinical manifestations and factors affecting the outcome of therapy in patients with methadone poisoning in a Middle-Eastern (Iranian) referral tertiary ...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine, over time, changes in annual trends of nosocomial bacteraemia (NB) and to quantify pathogen-specific changes and emergence of antibiotic resistance. METHODS A retrospective cohort study in a 997 bed tertiary care centre in the Netherlands was performed. All adult patients (> or =18 years old) admitted for >48 h between 1 January 1996 and 31 D...

Psychiatric morbidity is a major public health problem in the world across developed and developing countries. There is a paucity of Nepalese studies on psychiatric morbidity. All the patients who were admitted in mental hospital, Lagankhel from 17th July 2009 to 16th July 2010 were included in this study. Information on their Socio-demographic profiles and hospital diagnosis was extracted from...

INTRODUCTION Rising antibiotic resistance may negatively affect the health and cost of care for patients. This study aimed to determine the impact of antibiotic resistance on costs and health consequences for patients. METHODOLOGY A one-year observational study was conducted at Christian Medical College, Vellore, a tertiary care hospital, on patients admitted into medical wards with a prelimi...