BMJ : British medical journal
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Multicenter Study
Errors in administration of parenteral drugs in intensive care units: multinational prospective study.
To assess on a multinational level the frequency, characteristics, contributing factors, and preventive measures of administration errors in parenteral medication in intensive care units. ⋯ Parenteral medication errors at the administration stage are common and a serious safety problem in intensive care units. With the increasing complexity of care in critically ill patients, organisational factors such as error reporting systems and routine checks can reduce the risk for such errors.
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Multicenter Study
Euthanasia and other end of life decisions and care provided in final three months of life: nationwide retrospective study in Belgium.
To explore the relation between the care provided in the final three months of life and the prevalence and types of end of life decisions in Belgium. Design Two year nationwide retrospective study, 2005-6 (SENTI-MELC study). ⋯ End of life decisions that shorten life, including euthanasia or physician assisted suicide, are not related to a lower use of palliative care in Belgium and often occur within the context of multidisciplinary care.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Understanding why some ethnic minority patients evaluate medical care more negatively than white patients: a cross sectional analysis of a routine patient survey in English general practices.
To examine why patients from ethnic minorities give poorer evaluations of primary health care than white patients. ⋯ Important differences in assessments of care exist in different ethnic minority groups. Some negative evaluations may reflect communication issues. Among Asian patients, lower ratings of waiting times for appointments may also reflect different expectations of care. Adjusting survey results for ethnicity may be justified when comparing healthcare providers; however, health services also have a responsibility to meet legitimate patient expectations.
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Multicenter Study
Retention in the British National Health Service of medical graduates trained in Britain: cohort studies.
To report the percentage of graduates from British medical schools who eventually practise medicine in the British NHS. ⋯ The majority of British medical graduates from British medical schools practise in the NHS in both the short and long term. Differences between men and women in this respect are negligible. A majority of doctors from overseas homes remain in Britain for their years as junior doctors, but eventually about half leave the NHS.
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Multicenter Study
Reliability of patient responses in pay for performance schemes: analysis of national General Practitioner Patient Survey data in England.
To assess the robustness of patient responses to a new national survey of patient experience as a basis for providing financial incentives to doctors. ⋯ There is little evidence to support the concern of some general practitioners that low response rates and selective non-response bias have led to systematic unfairness in payments attached to questionnaire scores. The study raises issues relating to the validity and reliability of payments based on patient surveys and provides lessons for the UK and for other countries considering the use of patient experience as part of pay for performance schemes.