Avoidable disability.

Is postoperative oliguria avoidable?

Postoperative salt and water retention has been recognized for most of this century. Does it matter? Can or should it be avoided? These are still questions about which debate continues. Pringle, in 1905, observed reduced urine volumes and weight gain in postoperative patients [31]. Wilkinson studied 27 patients perioperatively and observed a decrease in urinary concentrations of sodium and chlo...

Inevitable or avoidable?

The prospect of a superbug that could wipe out much of the human race sounds like the stuff of science-fiction novels, Hollywood movies or doomsday prophets. However, such a global pandemic might not be as unlikely as it seems—some would even go so far as to say that it is a certainty, with the only uncertainties being what pathogen will cause it, when it will happen and how well the world will...

Are readmissions avoidable?

OBJECTIVE To examine the possible use of readmission rates as an outcome indicator of hospital inpatient care by investigating avoidability of unplanned readmissions within 28 days of discharge. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of a stratified random sample of case notes of patients with an unplanned readmission between July 1987 and June 1988 by nine clinical assessors (263 assessments) and cat...

Avoidable Sets in Groups

Avoidable mortality in Lithuania.

STUDY OBJECTIVE The study aimed to analyse avoidable mortality in Lithuania as an index of the quality of health care and to assess trends in avoidable mortality from 1970-90. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS All deaths of Lithuanian residents aged between 0 and 64 years between 1970 and 1990 were analysed. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Twenty seven per cent of all deaths in this age group were avo...