Clin Med
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In this study, we evaluated the burden and quality of adult inpatient diabetes care in Barbados. Inpatients were reviewed over 2 days to identify those with diabetes. Data were collected and analysed from identified patients, their notes and management charts using an audit methodology developed in the UK. ⋯ Medication errors were experienced by 41.4% of patients. We recorded the prevalence of inpatient diabetes in the English medical literature (42.5%) and this was significantly driven by diabetic foot disease. Care needs were complex and areas of potential improvement were identified.
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Medical short stay units help to increase patient flow and decrease length of stay, but selecting appropriate patients for admission to such units is difficult. The selection tool used in our unit was effective but cumbersome to apply. We collected prospective data on 297 unselected emergency medical admissions and developed a new scoring system based on four key variables using regression analysis. ⋯ The model was then used to select patients for admission to the short stay unit in our trust. Length of stay on the short stay unit had decreased by an average of 2.73 days with our original selection tool, but remained unchanged at an average of 3.02 days using the new simpler tool (p > 0.05). This model could now be adopted by other units.
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Over the past 3 years the number of homeless people in the UK has increased by 34%. Most will die young, largely due to treatable conditions. Secondary care can, and must, do more for the silent killer that homelessness is.
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Awareness is growing that young adults may have distinctive experiences of adult healthcare and that their needs may differ from those of other adult users. In addition, the role of adult health teams in supporting positive transitions from paediatrics is increasingly under discussion. This paper contributes to these debates. ⋯ Key findings from the study are reported, including an exploration of factors that help to explain interviewees' experiences. Study findings are discussed in the context of existing evidence from young adults in adult healthcare settings and theories of 'young adulthood'. Implications for training and practice are considered, and priorities for future research are identified.
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Clinical decision support systems are interactive software systems designed to help clinicians with decision-making tasks, such as determining a diagnosis or recommending a treatment for a patient. Clinical decision support systems are a widely researched topic in the computer science community, but their inner workings are less well understood by, and known to, clinicians. ⋯ It also describes some of the challenges to implementing these systems in clinical environments and posits some reasons for the limited adoption of decision-support systems in practice. It aims to engage clinicians in the development of decision support systems that can meaningfully help with their decision-making tasks and to open a discussion about the future of automated clinical decision support as a part of healthcare delivery.