The "hard core" group of chronically hospitalized mental patients still fill most hospital beds, and are not participants in the current upsurge in discharge rates. Target areas for rehabilitation of this population are suggested on the basis of a review of institutional studies within an interactional framework. A review of institutional treatment research suggests that "milieu" and "social le...

Patients awaiting surgery for primary varicose veins can dominate ‘in-patient’ waiting lists. However, there is now an established pattern of change towards day case surgery. Significantly, this may lead to a rise in the numbers treated, lowering of ‘per-case’ costs and a concomitant release of ‘in-patient’ beds. The service must be both safe and cost effective and should be led by senior staff...

In this state-funded study of the impact of faith community nursing, 1,061 notes regarding 713 older adults were retrieved from 75 faith community nurses. Critical contacts were mapped using the Data, Interpretation, Action, Response, and Yield (DIARY) charting format. DIARY notes revealed that disabilities were seemingly avoided when reluctant older adults were coaxed to access care before the...

Early intervention and appropriate referral of patients with alcohol problems have the potential to reduce alcohol-related morbidity and mortality. Part 1 of this series introduced screening tools that can be applied in the ED to allow early detection of at-risk drinkers. This article was developed by members of the SAEM Substance Abuse Task Force and describes assessment and intervention techn...

Today telemedicine, or eHealth, is an important tool in everyday medical life. In all areas, from the preclinical to aftercare, significant improvements in communication structures have been seen in various eHealth options, which have had significant, positive effects on the quality of patient care in orthopedics and trauma surgery. Initially, there were several isolated solutions and many smal...

BACKGROUND Relapse rates in bulimia nervosa (BN) are high even after successful treatment, but patients often hesitate to take up further treatment. An easily accessible program might help maintain treatment gains. Encouraged by the effects of Web-based eating disorder prevention programs, we developed a manualized, Web-based aftercare program (IN@) for women with BN following inpatient treatme...

The goal of this project is to develop a mobile device for transmitting images for the aftercare of surgical patients within the framework of the competence center TELTRA. After designing and evaluating different platforms and cameras, it was decided to develop for a compact flash camera card and an HSCSD modem which is based on and can be plugged into a pocket PC. The recorded images are sent ...