OBJECTIVE To develop a process to improve patient outcomes from deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery for Parkinson disease (PD), essential tremor (ET), and dystonia. METHODS We employed standard quality improvement methodology using the Plan-Do-Study-Act process to improve patient selection, surgical DBS lead implantation, postoperative programming, and ongoing assessment of patient outcomes....

When nurses understand what interventions are needed to achieve desired patient outcomes, they can more easily define their practice. Work Complexity Assessment (WCA) is a process that helps nurses to identify interventions performed on a routine basis for their specific patient population. This article describes the WCA process and links it to the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) and...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the minimum clinically important improvement (MCII) and patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) values for 4 generic outcomes in 5 rheumatic diseases and 7 countries. METHODS We conducted a multinational (Australia, France, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Spain, and The Netherlands) 4-week cohort study involving 1,532 patients who were prescribed nonsteroidal antiinflammatory d...

Leading health commentators have called for health equity to be made a measureable endpoint of health technology assessment (HTA) (Daniels et al., 2016; Horton, 2013). Nowhere is this more important than in low income countries on the path to universal health coverage, where reducing inequalities in health care, health outcomes and protection from the financial risks of ill-health are central p...

Osteoarthritis of the knee is a debilitating condition affecting increasing numbers of individuals each year. One option for treatment is orthotic knee braces, but a little independent reviews have taken place to date on their relative outcomes for users. This study therefore evaluates the efficacy of different types of knee orthoses (braces) with regard to key aspects of use, including gait pa...

BACKGROUND Many older people presenting to Acute Medical Units (AMU) are discharged after only a short stay (< 72 hours), yet many re-present to hospital or die within 1 year. Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment may improve patient outcomes for this group. METHOD PARTICIPANTS Patients aged > 70 years and scoring positive on a risk screening tool ('Identification of Seniors At Risk') who are...

An outcome assessment, the patient assessment used in an endpoint, is the measuring instrument that provides a rating or score (categorical or continuous) that is intended to represent some aspect of the patient's health status. Outcome assessments are used to define efficacy endpoints when developing a therapy for a disease or condition. Most efficacy endpoints are based on specified clinical ...

W here to treat a patient with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is probably the most important decision in the management of this condition. This is true in terms of patient outcomes and, definitely, in terms of costs. Therefore, all current European and American guidelines agree that the assessment of severity is the starting point in the management algorithm [1–5]. If the assessment is so c...