The aim of this project was to describe hospital nurses' work activity through observations, nurses' perceptions of time spent on tasks, and electronic health record time stamps. Nurses' attitudes toward technology and patients' perceptions and satisfaction with nurses' time at the bedside were also examined. Activities most frequently observed included documenting in and reviewing the electron...

IMPORTANCE Handoff miscommunications are a leading cause of medical errors. Studies comprehensively assessing handoff improvement programs are lacking. OBJECTIVE To determine whether introduction of a multifaceted handoff program was associated with reduced rates of medical errors and preventable adverse events, fewer omissions of key data in written handoffs, improved verbal handoffs, and ch...

OBJECTIVES To determine morbidity and mortality from measles and to estimate measles vaccine effectiveness among children hospitalised with measles in two hospitals in Nairobi. DESIGN A review of hospital records (index cards). SETTING Kenyatta National Hospital and Mbagathi District Hospitals covering the years 1996-2000. METHOD A review of index cards for measles morbility and mortality...

ISSUE ADDRESSED This retrospective study investigated the health conditions of a cohort of heavy vehicle drivers involved in a crash in Western Australia. METHODS Hospital separation records of heavy vehicle drivers admitted to hospital as a result of a road crash between 1 January 1988 and 31 December 2000 in Western Australia were analysed. Heavy vehicle drivers involved in a crash were fir...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to look at accident and emergency (A&E) attendances and admissions after assault in the West Midlands NHS region across a wide range of acute units. METHODS This study used data from two sources, the A&E Minimum Data Set and the Hospital Episode Statistics database. Analyses were based on data from 12 of the 21 acute trusts in the West Midlands NHS regi...

OBJECTIVE A number of studies have shown that both mortality and hospital admissions due to severe asthma have decreased in recent years in many parts of the world. However, the situation is Spain has not yet been analyzed. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of very severe, near-fatal asthma in recent years in various Spanish hospitals. PATIENTS AND METHODS A retrospective r...

BACKGROUND Throughput might be partially responsible for sub-optimum organisational and medical outcomes. The present study examined throughput and the challenges to ensuring optimum throughput in hospitals, and determined the effectiveness of a throughput intervention in reducing overcrowding in a public healthcare institution in Trinidad and Tobago. METHODS First, a literature review of thr...

BACKGROUND Substance use by people with severe psychiatric morbidity is associated with negative outcomes. AIMS To assess in adults with less severe psychiatric morbidity the relationship between alcohol consumption and subsequent 7-year hospital admissions, and the development and recurrence of alcohol use disorders. METHOD Follow-up data were assembled via a population-based hospital reco...