Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)
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This study investigated the safety of discharge of seniors (aged 65 and over) from Quebec emergency departments (EDs) to the community. Data from a 2006 survey of key informants at 103 Quebec adult non-psychiatric EDs were linked to data on a sample of 172,927 seniors who were discharged home from one of the EDs during the period February 2004-January 2005. ⋯ A minority of EDs, regardless of their size and the characteristics of patients treated, systematically provided services to improve the safety of discharge. Resources and services need to be improved in EDs, particularly those that serve higher-risk populations (e.g., systematic approaches to the identification and management of high-risk seniors, with appropriate referrals to community services), in the hospital (e.g., increased accessibility to acute care beds) and in the community (e.g., increased accessibility to home care, outpatient geriatric assessment and primary medical care).
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Canadians provide significant amounts of unpaid care to elderly family members and friends with long-term health problems. While some information is available on the nature of the tasks unpaid caregivers perform, and the amounts of time they spend on these tasks, the contribution of unpaid caregivers is often hidden. (It is recognized that some caregiving may be for short periods of time or may entail matters better described as "help" or "assistance," such as providing transportation. However, we use caregiving to cover the full range of unpaid care provided from some basic help to personal care.) Aggregate estimates of the market costs to replace the unpaid care provided are important to governments for policy development as they provide a means to situate the contributions of unpaid caregivers within Canada's healthcare system. The purpose of this study was to obtain an assessment of the imputed costs of replacing the unpaid care provided by Canadians to the elderly. (Imputed costs is used to refer to costs that would be incurred if the care provided by an unpaid caregiver was, instead, provided by a paid caregiver, on a direct hour-for-hour substitution basis.) The economic value of unpaid care as understood in this study is defined as the cost to replace the services provided by unpaid caregivers at rates for paid care providers.
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In 2005, Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) released Thoracic Surgical Oncology Standards. These standards were aimed at providing the best level of care for those undergoing thoracic surgery and encompass surgeon training, hospital ancillary services and minimum volume thresholds for surgeries of the lung and esophagus. The objective of the current study was to explore variations in thoracic cancer surgical volumes at the hospital level across Canada. ⋯ Nine hospitals performed both lung and esophageal cancer surgeries at or over the suggested volumes. Higher volumes of lung and esophageal cancer-related surgeries have been associated with improved patient outcomes. Here we present a snapshot of the distribution of cancer-related lung and esophageal surgeries across Canada (excluding Quebec and Prince Edward Island).
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Over the past three years I have had the opportunity to be involved in two integration projects regarding cancer services. Both projects crossed jurisdictional, geographical and healthcare-provider boundaries and used cooperation and collaboration to work toward the goal of an integrated, quality, multi-disciplinary, seamless, patient-centred approach to cancer care. The projects have provided a perspective of what worked well and what could be improved when integrating healthcare services across organizational and provider boundaries. Governance emerged as a key determinant of project progress and successful change.