Articles: hospitals.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Outcomes of a Geriatric Liaison Intervention to Prevent the Development of Postoperative Delirium in Frail Elderly Cancer Patients: Report on a Multicentre, Randomized, Controlled Trial.
Delirium is a serious and common postoperative complication, especially in frail elderly patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a geriatric liaison intervention in comparison with standard care on the incidence of postoperative delirium in frail elderly cancer patients treated with an elective surgical procedure for a solid tumour. ⋯ Within this study, a geriatric liaison intervention based on frailty for the prevention of postoperative delirium in frail elderly cancer patients undergoing elective surgery for a solid tumour has not proven to be effective.
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Multicenter Study
Delays in appropriate antibiotic therapy for gram-negative bloodstream infections: a multicenter, community hospital study.
Gram-negative bacterial bloodstream infection (BSI) is a serious condition with estimated 30% mortality. Clinical outcomes for patients with severe infections improve when antibiotics are appropriately chosen and given early. The objective of this study was to estimate the association of prior healthcare exposure on time to appropriate antibiotic therapy in patients with gram-negative BSI. ⋯ Patients with healthcare-associated or hospital-acquired BSI experienced delays in receipt of appropriate antibiotics for gram-negative BSI compared to patients with community-acquired BSI. This difference was not due to delayed initiation of antibiotic therapy, but due to the inappropriate choice of antibiotic.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Composite measures for profiling hospitals on surgical morbidity.
Although risk-adjusted morbidity is widely used as a surgical quality indicator, it may not always be a reliable indicator of hospital quality. In this study, we assess the value of a novel composite measure for improving the reliability of hospital morbidity rankings. ⋯ Composite measures better reflect hospital quality than simple rates of risk-adjusted morbidity. In the context of ACS-NSQIP, composite measures would give hospitals a better sense of where they stand and help identify truly exemplary hospitals for benchmarking.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Differential case ascertainment in clinical registry versus administrative data and impact on outcomes assessment for pediatric cardiac operations.
Administrative datasets are often used to assess outcomes and quality of pediatric cardiac programs; however their accuracy regarding case ascertainment is unclear. We linked patient data (2004-2010) from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery (STS-CHS) Database (clinical registry) and the Pediatric Health Information Systems (PHIS) database (administrative database) from hospitals participating in both to evaluate differential coding/classification of operations between datasets and subsequent impact on outcomes assessment. ⋯ This study demonstrates differences in case ascertainment between administrative and clinical registry data for children undergoing cardiac operations, which translated into important differences in outcomes assessment.
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The present study was undertaken to establish a useful range for the B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) level, with the ultimate goal of determining a cut-off BNP level that will make it possible to identify patients with clinically important organic heart disorders among patients encountered in clinical practice. ⋯ These findings suggest that the lower range of the BNP level allowing for identification of patients with clinically important organic heart disorders increases with age; however, it might be appropriate to adopt a level of approximately 40 pg/mL, even in elderly patients, in order to avoid any possible age-related effects of diastolic dysfunction or other factors.