Electronic health records and support for primary care teamwork

Objective Consensus that enhanced teamwork is necessary for efficient and effective primary care delivery is growing. We sought to identify how electronic health records (EHRs) facilitate and pose challenges to primary care teams as well as how practices are overcoming these challenges.Methods Practices in this qualitative study were selected from those recognized as patient-centered medical homes via the National Committee for Quality Assurance 2011 tool, which included a section on practice teamwork. We interviewed 63 respondents, ranging from physicians to front-desk staff, from 27 primary care practices ranging in size, type, geography, and population size.Results EHRs were found to facilitate communication and task delegation in primary care teams through instant messaging, task management software, and the ability to create evidence-based templates for symptom-specific data collection from patients by medical assistants and nurses (which can offload work from physicians). Areas where respondents felt that electronic medical record EHR functionalities were weakest and posed challenges to teamwork included the lack of integrated care manager software and care plans in EHRs, poor practice registry functionality and interoperability, and inadequate ease of tracking patient data in the EHR over time.Discussion Practices developed solutions for some of the challenges they faced when attempting to use EHRs to support teamwork but wanted more permanent vendor and policy solutions for other challenges.Conclusions EHR vendors in the United States need to work alongside practicing primary care teams to create more clinically useful EHRs that support dynamic care plans, integrated care management software, more functional and interoperable practice registries, and greater ease of data tracking over time.     

Are Medicare's Nursing Home Compare Ratings Accurate Predictors of 90-Day Complications,Readmission, and Bundle Cost for Patients Undergoing Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty?

Background

Nursing Home Compare (NHC) ratings, created and maintained by Medicare, are used by both hospitals and consumers to aid in the skilled nursing facility (SNF) selection process. To date, no studies have linked NHC ratings to actual episode-based outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether NHC ratings are valid predictors of 90-day complications, readmission, and bundle costs for patients discharged to an SNF after primary total joint arthroplasty (TJA).

临床药师在导管接触性溶栓联合抗凝治疗急性下肢深静脉血栓的用药分析与药学监护中的作用

目的 探讨临床药师在急性下肢深静脉血栓患者个体化治疗中的作用。 方法 对南京鼓楼医院血管外科2018年8月收治的8例急性下肢深静脉血栓患者的治疗过程进行分析，结合临床药学知识制定导管接触性溶栓及抗凝用药方案，对患者实施全程药学监护。 结果 溶栓治疗期间，患者血浆纤维蛋白原水平呈明显下降趋势，血浆D-二聚体水平呈先升高后降低的趋势，血小板未见明显下降趋势；8例患者在溶栓治疗过程中，2例出现轻微牙龈出血后自行止血，1例出现血尿，停止溶栓治疗后改为口服抗凝药，血尿现象消失。患者预后改善明显，血栓完全溶解，静脉恢复畅通，用药安全得到有效保障。 结论 临床药师在导管接触性溶栓联合抗凝治疗急性下肢深静脉血栓患者的个体化用药监护方面发挥了积极作用。     

肝癌介入术治疗患者术中应用心理护理的效果

目的研究在肝癌介入术治疗患者中应用心理护理干预的临床价值。方法本文数据计算目标是2018年1月-2019年6月的60例肝癌介入术治疗患者,以随机数字表法的形式进行分组研究,常规组(n=30)开展一般护理干预,心理组(n=30)开展心理护理干预,比较心理组与常规组肝癌介入术治疗患者临床护理情况。结果心理组肝癌介入术治疗患者治疗后临床护理满意度、焦虑评分、抑郁评分与常规组比较,两组治疗后肝癌介入术治疗患者焦虑评分、抑郁评分与治疗前比较,P<0.05,差异有统计学意义。结论将心理护理干预应用在肝癌介入术治疗患者中可提升护理满意度。     

Investigating the association between eye colour and the Neurological Pupil index

IntroductionBrown or dark brown eyes make it difficult to distinguish the contrast between a black pupil and the surrounding iris, which may result in clinical assessment errors. The pupillometer can be used to derive an indexed value, the Neurological Pupil index™ (NPi) for pupillary light reflex. However, there are limited data associating the NPi and iris colour. We examine the NPi and eye colour association.MethodsData were pooled from the Establishing Normative Data for Pupillometer Assessments in Neuroscience Intensive Care (END-PANIC) Registry. The analysis includes 14,168 observations collected from 865 patients with neurological conditions who were admitted to the intensive care unit. Summary statistics and statistical models were developed to examine the association using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) summary procedure.ResultsThe mean age of the cohort was 56 years (standard deviation = 17). Eye colour included dark brown (n = 339), blue (n = 234), brown (n = 173), green (n = 82), and other (n = 37). There was significant differences (p < 0.0001) between mean NPi values by eye colour [blue = 4.08 (0.92), brown = 3.34 (1.45), dark = 3.71 (1.33), green = 4.08 (0.67), other = 3.76 (1.25)]. However, a further random-effects mixed model after controlling for confounding variables revealed no significant difference in NPi values among different eye colour groups.ConclusionsThe pupillary light reflex, when assessed using the pupillometer, is not dependent on the eye colour. Practitioners are not required to consider eye colour as a confounder when they perform pupillary assessment for examining patients with neurological conditions.     

Determinants of Regional Variation in Health Expenditures in Germany

Health care expenditure in Germany shows clear regional differences. Such geographic variations are often seen as an indicator for inefficiency. With its homogeneous health care system, low co‐payments and uniform prices, Germany is a particularly suited example to analyse regional variations. We use data for the year 2011 on expenditure, utilization of health services and state of health in Germany's statutory health insurance system. This data, which originate from a variety of administrative sources and cover about 90% of the population, are enriched with a wealth of socio‐economic variables, data on pollutants, prices and individual preferences. State of health and demography explains 55% of the differences as measured by the standard deviation while all control variables account for a total of 72% of the differences at county level. With other measures of variation, we can account for an even greater proportion. A higher proportion of variation than usually supposed can thus be explained. Whilst this study cannot quantify inefficiencies, our results contradict the thesis that regional variations reflect inefficiency. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mapping Levels of Palliative Care Development in 198 Countries: The Situation in 2017

ContextPalliative care is gaining ground globally and is endorsed in high-level policy commitments, but service provision, supporting policies, education, and funding are incommensurate with rapidly growing needs.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to describe current levels of global palliative care development and report on changes since 2006.MethodsAn online survey of experts in 198 countries generated 2017 data on 10 indicators of palliative care provision, fitted to six categories of development. Factor analysis and discriminant analysis showed the validity of the categorization. Spearman correlation analyses assessed the relationship with World Bank Income Level (WBIL), Human Development Index (HDI), and Universal Health Coverage (UHC).ResultsNumbers (percentages) of countries in each development category were as follows: 1) no known palliative care activity, 47 (24%); 2) capacity-building, 13 (7%); 3a) isolated provision, 65 (33%); 3b) generalized provision, 22 (11%); 4a) preliminary integration into mainstream provision, 21 (11%); 4b) advanced integration, 30 (15%). Development levels were significantly associated with WBIL (r_S = 0.4785), UHC (r_S = 0.5558), and HDI (r_S = 0.5426) with P < 0.001. Net improvement between 2006 and 2017 saw 32 fewer countries in Categories 1/2, 16 more countries in 3a/3b, and 17 more countries in 4a/4b.ConclusionPalliative care at the highest level of provision is available for only 14% of the global population and is concentrated in European countries. An 87% global increase in serious health-related suffering amenable to palliative care interventions is predicted by 2060. With an increasing need, palliative care is not reaching the levels required by at least half of the global population.