UNLABELLED There is a fairly widespread belief regarding the influence of the moon phases on the psychological behavior in humans. This relationship could be more pronounced among patients with mental disorders. OBJECTIVE To study the possible association between the incidence of psychiatric emergencies and moon phases and between the behaviors of psychiatric patients and moon phases. METHO...

BACKGROUND Since the 1978 Italian reform, an integrated network of community mental health services has been introduced. With few exceptions, research on determinants of mental health service use at the district level has focused on inpatient activities and social deprivation indicators. The European Psychiatric Care Assessment Team (EPCAT) standardized methodology allows for an evidence-based ...

S imulation modelling has suggested high bed occupancy in hospitals is associated with a greater risk of prolonged waits for admission in the accident and emergency (A&E) department. The NHS Plan has introduced two standards for waits in A&E. Firstly, the wait for admission from the time of a decision to admit (trolley wait); which is the wait that appears to be related to average bed occupancy...

BACKGROUND Organizational data such as bed occupancy rate and nurse-to-patient ratio are related to clinical outcomes and to the efficient use of intensive care unit (ICU) resources. Standards for these performance indicators are provided in guidelines. We studied the effects of a multifaceted feedback strategy to improve the adherence to these standards. METHODS In a cluster randomized contr...

BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to understand the current status of intensive care unit (ICU) in order to optimize the resources achieving the best possible care. METHODS The study analyzed the status of ICU settings based on the Taiwan National Health Insurance database between March 2004 and February 2009. RESULTS A total of 1,028,364 ICU patients were identified. The age was 65 ± 18 ...

Policy makers and businessmen demand real-time information and short-term forecasts about bed-nights occupied and the occupancy rate in hotel establishments (the latter being the percentage ratio of the number of bed nights occupied to the number of bed-nights on offer in the same period, usually one month). So, when these forecasts are obtained using single equations time series models, implic...

BACKGROUND Pabon Lasso model was applied to assess the relative performance of hospitals affiliated to Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences (KUMS) before and after the implementation of Health Sector Evolution Plan (HSEP) in Iran. METHODS This cross-sectional study was carried out in 11 public hospitals affiliated to KUMS in 2015. Twelve months before and after the implementation of the f...

There is considerable public, political and professional debate about the need for additional hospital beds in Australia. However, there is no clarity in regard to the definition, meaning and significance of hospital bed counts. Relative to population, there has been a total decline in bed availability in Australia over the past 15 years of 14.6% (22.9% for public hospital beds). This decline i...

Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) is appropriate for one in four patients with osteoarthritic knees. This study was performed to compare the safety, effectiveness and economic viability of a new accelerated protocol with current standard care in a state healthcare system. A single blind RCT design was used. Eligible patients were screened for NSAID tolerance, social circumstances and geo...