In this paper we describe the context-aware Adaptive Daily Rhythm Atmosphere (ADRA) system. The ADRA system is designed to stimulate the healing process of hospital patients, neurology patients in particular. We first report on the needs and issues of neurology patients identified by an observation study in a hospital neurology ward. Based on these needs, we define several concepts to promote t...

We analyse a huge and very precise trace of contact data collected during 6 months on the entire population of a rehabilitation hospital. We investigate the graph structure of the average daily contact network. Our main results are to unveil striking properties of this structure in the considered hospital, and to present a methodology that can be used for analysing any dynamic complex network w...

This study was conducted in Lebanon with the main objectives of acquiring baseline data on practices and routines applied in the obstetrics ward for women having normal delivery; estimating the frequency of certain practices; and assessing whether women are given choice in these practices. A national sample of 39 hospitals was selected. The director, head midwife, or head nurse of the obstetric...

BACKGROUND falls and related injuries are known to be a significant problem for older people. There is evidence that identifying and addressing individual risk factors can reduce the incidence of falls in the community but no evidence of the effectiveness of targeted risk factor reduction methods applied to hospital in-patients. OBJECTIVE to test the efficacy of a targeted risk factor reducti...

The air of three hospital wards was examined frequently for staphylococci for a period of nearly four years using slit samplers. ;Broadcasts' of staphylococci into the air were observed with the air count rising well above the mean of 0.2 staphylococcal particle per cubic foot and these broadcasts often appeared to be due to single patients. Eight of the 3,675 patients admitted to the wards pos...

A program called Releasing Time to Care: The Productive Ward has been introduced into 62 public hospital wards in 10 of the 20 District Health Board regions. The program, which was developed in the NHS in England, takes a patientcentered approach to improving the quality of care on acute care nursing units by freeing up caregivers' time for more direct patient care. It gives frontline staff the...