BACKGROUND The Worthing physiological scoring system (PSS) was first validated in 2005 as a tool to predict hospital mortality on admission and was subsequently introduced into clinical practice at Worthing Hospital, UK. Five years on, this study was conducted to determine the effects on mortality and length of stay (LOS) after the introduction of electronic alerting software using the PSS. In ...

BACKGROUND This study tested the homeostatic model of subjective quality of life in a group of 47 short stay patients as they progressed through the stages of hospitalization for surgery. METHOD Participants completed a questionnaire measuring subjective quality of life, positive and negative affect, self-esteem, optimism and cognitive flexibility, the day prior to admission (T1), two days po...

Game theory is commonly used to study social behavior in cooperative or competitive situations. One socioeconomic game, Stag Hunt, involves the trade-off between social and individual benefit by offering the option to hunt a low-payoff hare alone or a high-payoff stag cooperatively. Stag Hunt encourages the creation of social contracts as a result of the payoff matrix, which favors cooperation....

BACKGROUND Length of stay is the main determinant of the cost of hospitalization, which is why strategies must be implemented to reduce conventional hospital stays while maintaining quality levels. Short Stay Units (SSU) were created with the aim of reducing hospital stays in a certain group of patients and pathologies. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the literature on the evidence of decr...

Background In May 2012, the Central Denmark Region implemented a reform in stroke care, which included concentration of acute stroke treatment from 5 to 2 specialized hospitals, short stay, and a shift from inpatient rehabilitation to community-based rehabilitation, and establishment of 5 stroke teams. The plan was announced three months before implementation. Patients were promised a more inte...

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficiency of a short stay observation ward attached to the accident and emergency (A&E) department of a main teaching hospital. METHODS The study was done on 107 patients admitted to the A&E observation ward and 107 similar patients admitted to general wards after closure of the observation ward. Patients of 13 years and over who required short term admission to hospi...

ln this paper. The 'patients.?The present series included 17 Bengalees and 8 non-Bengalees of whom two ^ere Anglo-Indians. The youngest patient was H years and the oldest 61 years old, 18 (72 per cent) being between 11 and 30 years. This shows 'he maximum prevalence during adolescence and in young adults. There were 15 males and females indicating that both sexes were almost dually affected; fe...

We present a simple model for decision making under uncertainty building on dual-process theories from psychology, and use it to illustrate a possible component of intuitive decision making of particular relevance for managerial settings. Decisions are the result of the interaction between two decision processes. The first one captures optimization based on Bayesian updating of beliefs. The sec...

Kristin J. Konnyu is a Research Coordinator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Edmund Kwok is a resident physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at The Ottawa Hospital. Becky Skidmore is an independent research and Information consultant. David Moher is a Senior Scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute an...