Diabetes Technologies and Hospital Care: Transitioning Insulin Pump Therapy from the Outpatient to the Inpatient Setting: A Review of 6 Years' Experience with 253 Cases

Background

We reviewed the care of a large cohort of patients with diabetes mellitus on insulin pump therapy who required an inpatient stay.

Methods

Records were reviewed of patients hospitalized between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2011.

Results

A total of 136 patients using insulin pumps had 253 hospitalizations. Mean (standard deviation) patient age was 55 (16) years, diabetes duration was 29 (15) years, and pump duration was 6 (5) years. Insulin pump therapy was continued in 164 (65%) hospitalizations. Adherence to core process measures improved over time: by 2011, 100% of cases had an endocrinology consultation, 100% had the required insulin pump order set completed, and 94% had documentation of the signed agreement specifying patient responsibilities for continued use of the technology while hospitalized. Documentation of the insulin pump flow sheet also increased but could still be located in only 64% of cases by the end of 2011. Mean glucose was not significantly different among patients who remained on insulin pump therapy compared to those for whom it was discontinued (p > .1), but episodes of severe hyperglycemia (>300 mg/dl) and hypoglycemia (<40 mg/dl) were significantly less common among pump users. No pump site infections, mechanical pump failures, or episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis were observed among patients remaining on therapy.

Conclusions

With appropriate patient selection and usage guidelines, most patients using insulin pumps can safely have their therapy transitioned to the inpatient setting. Further study is needed to determine whether this approach can be translated to other hospital settings.     

住院患者关怀体验的质性研究

目的了解患者在住院期间对护理人员提供关怀服务的体验,帮助护理管理者更好地认识患者的需要和护理服务的效果,为提高护理服务质量提供依据。方法 2011年12月至2012年5月,采用目的抽样法选取某三级甲等医院内科、外科、妇产科、肿瘤科的住院患者24例,运用现象学研究方法对其进行观察和深度访谈,将记录的资料按Colaizzi步骤进行分析。结果对访谈结果进行分析,提炼出的5个主题为:护患人文关怀认知不足、护士服务态度良好、护理关怀服务质量参差不齐、护士对患者心理支持不足、服务硬环境有欠缺。结论护理管理者应加强培养护士的人文关怀意识,提高护士的关怀能力,同时重视对护士的人文关怀,从而使护士更好地为患者提供关怀性服务。     

某三级医院脑卒中住院患者医疗服务满意度调查

[目的]了解与评价脑卒中住院患者对医疗服务的满意度水平,找出医疗服务质量管理的薄弱环节,提出质量改进的对策。[方法]对青岛市某三级医院脑卒中住院患者进行现场问卷调查。[结果]脑卒中住院患者对维护患者安全、医疗技术、医患交流、健康教育等方面满意度高,与总体满意度相关系数高,是医院具有竞争优势的服务质量项目。医疗费用与总体满意度相关系数高,但满意度低,是竞争弱势待改进的服务项目。维护患者权利、服务态度、服务环境、服务流程等对患者总体满意相关性不是很高,满意度较高。[结论]医院应继续保持患者安全及竞争优势的服务项目,改进的焦点应该是竞争弱势的服务项目,在资源允许的条件下改进其他服务项目。     

Efficacy of a smoking-cessation intervention for elective-surgical patients

We tested an intervention to help smokers abstain (fast) from smoking before surgery, maintain abstinence postoperatively, and achieve long-term cessation. A randomized experiment included 237 patients admitted for presurgical assessment who smoked. The intervention included counseling and nicotine replacement therapy. Treatment group participants (73.0%) were more likely to fast than were controls (53.0%): chi(2)(1, N = 228) = 8.89, p =.003, and more likely to be abstinent 6 months after surgery (31.2% vs. 20.2%). There was no significant difference in the abstinence rates at 12 months after surgery, chi(2)(1, N = 169) <.001, p = 1.00. Encouraging patients to fast from smoking before surgery and postoperative support are efficacious ways to reduce preoperative and immediate post-operative tobacco use.     

Limit-setting and decision-making in the management of aggression

BACKGROUND: Several published research studies have suggested that inpatient aggression against nursing staff may be directly precipitated by common nurse-patient interactions. This study sought to examine the structure of nurses' judgements in situations of conflict. METHOD: Seventy practising United Kingdom psychiatric nurses were presented with a number of conflict scenarios and were asked to rate a range of intervention options for each scenario according to how appropriate they perceived those interventions to be. Their responses were analysed using multidimensional scaling techniques. RESULTS: The results suggest that issues associated with limit setting and autonomy were perceived as most important by the nurses and that these issues are most likely to lead to disagreements in judgement between nurses of different status. Nurses of higher grades (levels) showed a significantly greater preference for respectful and autonomy-confirming interventions than their more junior nurses. These results have training and policy implications and further research should examine the effects of such nursing judgements on patient care.     

Seclusion of children and adolescents: psychopathological and family factors

This paper describes the use of seclusion in a child and adolescent inpatient unit, including precipitating events, management strategies, details of seclusion episodes and individual and family risk factors. Inpatient ward documentation of seclusion episodes, demographic data and measures of individual psychopathology and impairment, parent mental health, life events and family functioning were used to compare secluded, non-secluded and outpatient groups. Secluded individuals had elevated psychopathology compared with non-secluded inpatients and outpatients. Their families reported poorer parental mental health and family functioning and more recent stressful life events. The results indicate that seclusion is most common among high-risk inpatients.     

Medicate,restrain or seclude? Strategies for dealing with violent and threatening behaviour in a Norwegian university psychiatric hospital

The aim of this study was to examine staff strategies for applying emergency procedures with patients who were violent or threatening. The study addressed those situations where verbal intervention, voluntary medication, and other interventions had been tried unsuccessfully and where staff found it necessary to apply emergency procedures in the shape of forced emergency medication (pharmacological restraint), physical restraint, and seclusion. The study was conducted in a 100-bed Norwegian university psychiatric hospital. By retrospectively examining hospital records we found there were 797 episodes of physical restraint, 384 episodes of pharmacological restraint, and 88 episodes of seclusion during a five and a half year period. The preferred emergency procedures varied significantly with patients' sex, age, and diagnoses. Physical restraint was preferred more often with male, younger, and nonpsychotic patients. Pharmacological restraint was preferred more often with female patients and older patients with a nonorganic psychotic disorder. Seclusion was preferred more often with older male patients with an organic psychotic disorder.     

Consumer feedback on nursing care and discharge planning

BACKGROUND: Gaining consumer feedback about nursing care and discharge planning is especially important given the changes that have occurred in acute inpatient mental health facilities. Consumers can best define the quality of the service they receive and surveys are considered to be good sources of information about nursing care and discharge planning. AIM: The aims of this study were to clarify consumer discharge needs, ascertain consumer perceptions of helpful practice, identify areas that require improvement, identify resources consumers deem important, ascertain satisfaction with specific aspects of services, and obtain baseline data to improve future discharge planning. METHOD: Satisfaction-with-services and discharge questionnaires were completed by clients (39 and 45, respectively) prior to discharge from three acute inpatient mental health units over a 2-month period. FINDINGS: Findings indicated that clients were most satisfied with the respect they received from staff, attention staff gave to concerns and worries, quality of service provided by nurses, way treatment met client needs and overall stay in hospital. The majority of respondents (95%) indicated that their discharge arrangements were explained to them and 90% were satisfied with these. Whilst over two-thirds indicated that the information provided in hospital to assist with discharge had been helpful, they highlighted some areas for service improvement. Resources to prepare them better for discharge included increased contact with consumer consultants and more information about mental health problems, medication and relapse prevention. CONCLUSION: This study constitutes another small step towards decreasing the gap between consumer expectations and actual treatment by asking consumers about their perceptions of discharge planning. The findings provide the basis for the development of more appropriate strategies to improve the continuity of services between hospital and community mental health settings.     

峨山县2009—2011年农村居民手足口病住院疾病直接经济负担研究

目的通过分析峨山县2009-2011年农村居民手足口病住院疾病直接经济负担,探讨手足口病对农村居民造成的疾病经济负担。方法对手足口病新农合住院报销病例的住院费用等进行分析,以住院总费用与新农合报销费用之差计算住院直接经济负担。结果2009-2011年,因手足121病住院的农村居民病例有l073例,住院疾病直接经济负担总额871505．7元,实际补偿比39．6（36．1,43．2）％,人均疾病直接经济负担638．0（558．4,759．4）元,实际补偿比、人均疾病直接经济负担有逐年增加的趋势（P均〈0．001）。县区级医疗机构就诊的病例其实际补偿比大于省市级．差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。结论新农合的实施一定程度上减轻了农村居民的手足口病住院直接经济负担,但并未有明显的减轻趋势,探索手足口重症病例特别补偿方式尤为重要。