ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that effective discharge planning is one of the key factors related to the quality of inpatient care and unnecessary hospital readmission. The perception and understanding of hospital discharge by health professionals is important in developing effective discharge planning. The aims of this present study were to explore the perceived quality of current ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the benefits of coordinating community services through the Post-Acute Care (PAC) program in older patients after discharge from hospital. DESIGN Prospective multicentre, randomised controlled trial with six months of follow-up with blinded outcome measurement. SETTING Four university-affiliated metropolitan general hospitals in Victoria. PARTICIPANTS All patients ag...

The purpose of this case study was to investigate opportunities to electronically enhance the transitions of care for both patients and providers and to describe the process of development and implementation of such tools. We describe the current challenges and fragmentation of care for pediatric patients and families being discharged from inpatient stays, and review barriers to change in pract...

Background: Proximal femur fractures are prevalent among the elderly and associated with substantial morbidity,mortality, and early readmission. Early readmission is gaining popularity as a measure of quality of hospital care and canlower reimbursement. A better understanding of the patient and treatment characteristics associated with readmissionmay help inform program improvement initiatives....

Effluent discharges from municipal, industrial, and agricultural activities constitute major sources of pollution on land and water bodies. During the 1990s, large-scale application of Constructed Wetlands (CWs) as a remediation option drew much attention globally from the public and green groups alike. The most common application of CWs is for flow management in river system and little is docu...

UNLABELLED This study assesses the impact of shortening the inpatient length of stay on status at discharge in patients with mania. METHODS The authors performed a chart review on 131 patients with discharge diagnoses of bipolar disorder, current episode manic type, admitted to the private attending service at Colorado Psychiatric Hospital between 1985 and 1995. In 1990, a new program (the al...

BACKGROUND St. Joseph's Health System has implemented an integrated comprehensive care bundle care (ICC) program with the hopes that it would improve patients' care while reducing overall costs. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the performance of the ICC program within patients admitted with chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD). METHODS We conducted a retrospective observation...

BACKGROUND Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a commonly performed surgical procedure in the US. It is important to have a comprehensive inpatient TKA program which maximizes outcomes while minimizing adverse events. The purpose of this study was to describe a TKA program - the Joint Replacement Program (JRP) - and report post-surgical outcomes. METHODS 74 candidates for a primary TKA were enro...

OBJECTIVES To examine clinical outcomes of an interdisciplinary day-hospital treatment program (comprised of physical, occupational, and cognitive-behavioral therapies with medical and nursing services) for pediatric complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). METHODS The study is a longitudinal case series of consecutive patients treated in a day-hospital pediatric pain rehabilitation program. Pa...