BACKGROUND Inadequate discharge planning following inpatient stays is a major issue in the provision of a high standard of care for patients who receive psychiatric treatment. Studies have shown that half of patients who had no pre-discharge contact with outpatient services do not keep their first outpatient appointment. Additionally, discharged patients who are not well linked to their outpati...

INTRODUCTION The National Hospital Discharge Survey is a primary data source for epidemiology research in the United States. To ensure that estimates are reliable, confidence intervals need to be calculated. The original survey data source is not available to the public, and the usual statistical methods are unsuitable for calculating confidence intervals. Instead, calculating confidence interv...

Since 2004, an international testing program has certified 53 shipboard treatment systems as meeting ballast water discharge standards, including limits on certain microbes to prevent the spread of human pathogens. We determined how frequently certification tests failed a minimum requirement for a meaningful evaluation, that the concentration of microbes in the untreated (control) discharge mus...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of a pilot pharmacist-managed medication reconciliation program on mortality and use of health care services in patients discharged to home from a skilled nursing facility (SNF). DESIGN Quasi-experimental, controlled trial. SETTING Health maintenance organization (HMO). PATIENTS Five hundred twenty-one HMO members. INTERVENTION Patients were assigned...

PURPOSE To evaluate the impact of a postdischarge ostomy support program as an adjunct to nurse-led ostomy care on preventable healthcare utilization. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS AND SETTING A postdischarge support program offered by an ostomy product's manufacturer provides persons living with an ostomy with patient-centered and easily accessible assistance. Individuals who un...

BACKGROUND Medication discrepancies may occur on admission, transfer, or discharge from hospital. Therapeutic interchange within a drug class is a common practice in hospitals, and orders for specific proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are often substituted with the hospital's formulary PPI through therapeutic interchange protocols. Rabeprazole is the PPI on the formulary of the British Columbia Pha...

The aim of the present study was to clarify the effects of phase II cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on job stress and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after return to work in middle-aged patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A total of 109 middle-aged outpatients (57 +/- 7 years) who completed a phase I CR program after AMI were enrolled, 72 of whom participated in a phase II CR pr...

Longer retention in drug abuse treatment is associated with better patient outcomes, and research indicates the first 12 months of methadone treatment are critical to patient success. Nevertheless, large-scale multisite longitudinal studies over the past three decades indicate that the majority of patients drop out during the first year of methadone treatment. Through an examination of 42 quali...