background and objectives: hospital bed utilization is influenced by various factors, which may be categorized into patient-related, physician-related, and administration-related issues. it could be argued that the causes of inappropriate hospital bed utilization would be perceived differently by the clinicians and the patients. given the unique role of clinical practitioners in quality of care...

This paper describes three bed prediction models in aiding hospital planners to anticipate bed demand so as to manage resources efficiently. The Poisson bed occupancy model provides an estimation of bed occupancy and optimal bed requirements in each class based on length of stay and admissions data. The simulation model was developed to predict bed occupancy levels for every class for the follo...

OBJECTIVE To share four Canadian cities' experiences with bed bug infestations and to explore public health roles in managing them. METHODS We summarize presentations from a workshop at the 2010 Canadian Public Health Association Conference which examined the re-emergence of bed bugs in Canada and compared management approaches of municipal and public health authorities in four large Canadian...

background and objectives: constant monitoring of healthcare organizations’ performance is an integral part of informed health policy-making. several hospital performance assessment methods have been proposed in the literature. pabon lasso model offers a fast and convenient method for comparative evaluation of hospital performance. this study aimed to evaluate the relative performance of hospit...

Recent research suggests that the resurgence of bed bugs in the U.S. has occurred at an alarming rate. Assumptions have been made that socioeconomic status is not associated with the prevalence of bed bug infestations. Little information is available at the local level, however, about the prevalence of bed bugs in private homes. The authors' pilot study aimed to identify prevalence, knowledge, ...

The delivery of cost-effective and quality hospital-based health care remains an important and ongoing challenge for the American health care industry. Despite numerous advances in medical procedures and technologies, a growing array of outpatient health care options, limits on inpatient reimbursements, and almost two decades of hospital contraction and consolidation, annual inpatient admission...

Recent studies have documented that a significant increase in the use of observation stays along with extensive variation in patterns of use across hospitals.The objective of this longitudinal observational study was to examine the extent to which patient, hospital, and local health system characteristics explain variation in observation stay rates across Veterans Health Administration (VHA) ho...

Australia has experienced a sudden and unexpected resurgence in bed bug infestations from both Cimex lectularius L. and Cimex hemipterus F. A survey in 2006 revealed that infestations had increased across the nation by an average of 4,500% since the start of the decade. In response, a multi-disciplinary approach to combat the rise of this public health pest was implemented and involved the coor...