Introduction Flat rates based on Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) are being introduced in a growing number of countries to remunerate acute inpatient treatment. In doing so, it will have to be decided – among other things – whether inpatient emergency services should be remunerated separately from the DRG flat rates or as part of them. Without separate remuneration, there may be a perception, or...

To determine whether adding telehealth technology to traditional home care services increases health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and home care satisfaction, and decreases resource utilization among home care patients. This trial included 37 home care patients receiving services in a Veterans Affairs medical center, randomized into intervention and control groups. Outcome measures included p...

BACKGROUND A range of health outcomes at a population level are related to differences in levels of social disadvantage. Understanding the impact of any such differences in palliative care is important. The aim of this study was to assess, by level of socio-economic disadvantage, referral patterns to specialist palliative care and proximity to inpatient services. METHODS All inpatient and com...

The literature reveals little Australian academic study of the phenomenon of patient satisfaction and identifies several problems in current research practice. A theoretical discussion about the phenomenon of patient satisfaction' is for the most part absent, the rigour in the methods applied is often dubious, a definition of patient satisfaction is not agreed and the patient experience is ofte...

The Australian College of Mental Health Nurses directs that mental health nurses must 'enable cultural safety in practice, taking into account age, gender, spirituality, ethnicity and health values'. The present study is a review of the existing literature undertaken in order to identify current knowledge and knowledge gaps regarding the experience of Indigenous women in acute mental health inp...

OBJECTIVE To estimate annual per-patient health services utilization and costs of retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in the United States. METHODS A retrospective claims analysis of patients with RP (N = 2990) and a 1:1 exactly matched cohort of non-RP patients was conducted using the MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental Databases. Individuals were continuously enrolled in a commercial heal...

BACKGROUND Understanding patterns of health service utilization can improve health care and increase use of health services. We examined patterns of health service utilization among residents of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. METHODS A total of 500 adults were surveyed using paper-based questionnaires. The χ(2) test and multiple logistic regression were used to identify associations between factors. ...

objective: previous suicide interventional studies are controversial in their results. the present study compared brief intervention and contact (bic), with treatment as usual (tau) in their influence on the repetition of suicide attempts 6-month after the index suicide attempt. methods: adults who had attempted suicide were assigned two groups randomly: 311 in the tau and 321 in the bic. the b...

OBJECTIVE Point of service feedback (POSF) enables patients to give health services feedback about their experiences during or immediately after care. Despite the increasing use of POSF, little is known regarding patients' and staffs' opinions of this practice and whether they consider it acceptable or useful. The study aimed to determine patient and staff opinions regarding POSF. DESIGN A cr...