Journal of neurosurgery
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jul 2020
Multicenter StudyThe limited influence of neurosurgeons' behavior on inpatient satisfaction: a retrospective multihospital analysis.
The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is a survey that assesses patient satisfaction, which is an important measure of the quality of hospital care and ultimately the overall hospital rating (OHR). However, the survey covers several elements of patient satisfaction beyond the patient-surgeon interaction. In this study, authors investigated which admission and experience factors had the highest impact on the OHR. ⋯ The study findings demonstrated that there are several nonmodifiable factors (i.e., specialty, experience) and items that are not under the direct purview of the neurosurgeon (e.g., nursing communication, hospital environment) that are significant influences on overall inpatient satisfaction on the HCAHPS survey. Furthermore, components of the survey that ultimately influence the OHR vary across different hospitals. Hence, HCAHPS survey results should be broadly interpreted as a way to make health systems more aware of the overall hospital factors that can improve quality of care and patient experience.
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Journal of neurosurgery · Jul 2020
Multicenter StudyPlasma extracellular vesicles as a source of biomarkers in traumatic brain injury.
The objective of this study was to isolate extracellular vesicles (EVs) from plasma in a cohort of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and analyze their contents for novel biomarkers that could prove useful for rapid diagnosis and classification of brain injury during initial evaluation. ⋯ Isolating plasma EVs in patients with TBI is feasible. Increased GFAP concentration-a validated plasma TBI marker-in EVs from TBI patients with altered consciousness, along with differential expression of multiple miRNAs targeting TBI-relevant pathways, suggests that EVs may be a useful source of TBI biomarkers. Additional evaluation in larger patient cohorts is indicated.