Association Between Outpatient Follow-Up and Pediatric Emergency Department Asthma Visits

Background. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) guidelines recommend that patients receive a follow-up outpatient asthma visit after being discharged from an emergency department (ED) for asthma. Objective. To measure the frequency of follow-up outpatient asthma visits and its association with repeat ED asthma visit. Design. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children with asthma using claims data from a university-based managed care organization from 01 1998 to 10 2000. We performed a multivariate survival analysis using Cox proportional hazards model to determine the effect of follow-up outpatient asthma visits on the likelihood of a repeat ED asthma visit, after controlling for severity of illness, patient age, gender, insurance, and the specialty of the primary care provider. Results: A total of 561 children had 780 ED asthma visits. Of these, 103 (17%) had a repeat ED asthma visit within 1 year. Almost two-thirds of children (66%) did not receive outpatient follow-up for asthma within 30 days of an ED asthma visit. Outpatient asthma visits within 30 days of an ED asthma visit are associated with an increased likelihood (relative risk = 1.80; 95% confidence interval 1.19, 2.72) for repeat ED asthma visits within 1 year. Conclusions. Most patients do not have outpatient follow-up after an ED asthma visit. However, those patients that present for outpatient follow-up have an increased likelihood for repeat ED asthma visits. For the primary care provider, these outpatient follow-up visits signal an increased risk that a patient will return to the ED for asthma and are a key opportunity to prevent future ED asthma visits.     

全科医疗质量评价指标体系的研究

本研究采用改进的Delphi法，经过两轮专家咨询，建立一套合理的全科医疗质量评价指标体系。两轮咨询专家的权威程度较高，其平均值分别为0．7634，0．7378。专家意见的协调系数分别为：0．122，0．231。最终确定全科医疗评价指标体系共有指标146项，其中一级指标4项，二级指标30项，三级指标112项。其中服务内容、服务满意度、效果效益、卫生经济4项一级指标的权重系数分别为0．2416、0．2646、0．2453、0．2485。     

Assessment of the quality of life in chronic pancreatitis using Sf-12 and EORTC Qlq-C30 questionnaires

BACKGROUND: SF-12 Health Survey, and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life Questionnaire-C30 are the two main questionnaires proposed and validated for assessing the quality of life in chronic pancreatitis. AIMS: To evaluate the role of the information furnished by both the SF-12 Health Survey and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life Questionnaire-C30 questionnaires, and to determine which of these two questionnaires may be considered more efficacious, in clinical practice, in describing the quality of life of patients with chronic pancreatitis. PATIENTS: We studied 163 consecutive patients with proven chronic pancreatitis. METHODS: The Italian version of the SF-12 Health Survey and the Italian neutral version of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life Questionnaire-C30 Version 3.0 questionnaires were administered. RESULTS: Pancreatic pain was the only clinical variable able to significantly impair the SF-12 Health Survey component summaries as well as all domains of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life Questionnaire-C30, while body mass index was positively related to the physical component summary-12 and to the domains of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life Questionnaire-C30. A high level of reliability of the domains/scores of the two questionnaires in evaluating the quality of life in patients with chronic pancreatitis was found and two main factors were identified. These two factors were mainly related to the two SF-12 Health Survey summary components. CONCLUSIONS: From a practical point of view, the SF-12 Health Survey is more reliable and easier to use in routine clinical practice than the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life Questionnaire-C30.     

利培酮、氯氮平治疗精神分裂症患者生活质量的长期随访对照研究

目的　探讨长期服用利培酮对精神分裂症患者生活质量的影响作用。方法　对 1997年 7月～ 2 0 0 0年 6月住院服用利培酮或氯氮平治疗达痊愈或显著进步、出院后回归社会达 18个月及以上的 174例精神分裂症患者 (利培酮 89例、氯氮平 75例 )的生活质量进行了分别于 2 0 0 0年 7月和 2 0 0 1年 7月进行了两次追踪随访对照研究。结果　第二次随访利培酮组患者的随访成功率高于氯氮平组 (χ2 =34.11,P <0 .0 0 0 1) ;利培酮组患者的生活质量两次随访结果均极显著高于氯氮平组 ,且利培酮组患者的生活质量较之一年前随访又有新的提高 ,多元逐步回归分析表明 :出院时服用药物剂量和种类是影响患者生活质量的较强因素。结论　利培酮能够提高精神分裂症患者的生活质量 ,远期疗效更突出     

Development of integrated provision for pre-fives in the UK

This paper analyses the diverse services currently available for children under five in the UK, and considers the nature of the demand for them. It recounts the initiative made by Strathclyde Region to co-ordinate and integrate pre-five provision, administratively and at a service level. It then considers the efforts of other local authorities to integrate administratively and looks at some of the complexities of attempting to do so at a service level.     

Incentives for cooperation in quality improvement among hospitals--the impact of the reimbursement system.

Up to now, few analytical models have studied the incentives for cooperation in quality improvements among hospitals. Only those dealing with reimbursement systems have shown that, from the point of view of individual or competing hospitals, retrospective reimbursement is more likely to encourage quality improvements than prospective financing, while the reverse holds for efficiency improvements. This paper studies the incentives to improve the quality of hospital care, in an analytical model, taking into account the possibility of cooperative agreements, price besides non-price (quality) competition and quality improvements that may simultaneously increase demand, increase or reduce costs and spill over to rival hospitals. In this setting quality improvement efforts rise with the rate of prospective reimbursement, while the impact of the rate of retrospective reimbursement is ambiguous, but likely to be negative for quality improvements that are highly cost-reducting and create large spillovers. Cooperation may lead to more or less quality improvement than non-cooperative conduct, depending on the magnitude of spillovers and the degree of product market competition, relative to the net effect of quality on profits and the share of costs that is reimbursed retrospectively. Finally, the stability of cooperative agreements, supported by grim trigger strategies, is shown to depend upon exactly the opposite interaction between these factors.     

滥用药物与生命质量退化的伦理思考

本文从生命质量的内涵入手,分析了滥用药物的直接和间接、近期和远期的危害,通过论证得出了滥用药物必将引起人类生命质量退化的结论.以期从一个新的认识度唤起人们对滥用药物问题的重视、并由此引出了一些对医学目的以及滥用药物控制措施的思考.     

氟康唑滴眼液的研制及临床应用

介绍氟康唑滴眼液的制备方法，质量标准、刺激性试验及治疗真菌性角膜溃疡，应用结果表明：制剂设计合理，水溶液稳定性好，无刺激性、疗效确切、工艺简单，适合医院制剂室配制。     

Quality of life assessment and HIV infection: A review

In the last few years, survival of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been improved because of a decreased incidence of some opportunistic complications attributable to prophylactic treatments and antiretroviral drugs. The impact of these agents should also be reflected in the quality of life (QoL) of patients. We have reviewed this topic with an emphasis on different types of measurements such as Q-TWIST, MOS and the Spitzer score which seem to be most appropriate for this patient population. We do not think that a special type of assessment should be designed for HIV-infected persons. It would be less time-consuming to improve already existing validated scores focusing on HIV infection. QoL in intravenous drug users with HIV should be evaluated more often.     

Life satisfaction in patients with chest pain subsequently diagnosed as coronary heart disease – connection through depressive symptoms?

The aim of this study was to investigate factors associated with life dissatisfaction in symptomatic patients (n = 144) with chest pain subsequently diagnosed as coronary heart disease (CHD) by coronary angiography. Life dissatisfaction was assessed with a four-item life satisfaction scale (LS), depression with the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and other psychiatric symptoms with the symptom check list (SCL). DSM-III-R Axis I and Axis II psychiatric diagnoses were performed by means of the Structured Clinical Interview. All assessments took place one day before angiography. Twenty-four per cent of CHD patients were dissatisfied with their lives. Life dissatisfaction was associated with being unmarried. Dissatisfied patients had Axis I mental disorders and Axis II personality disorders more frequently than others. Psychiatric and depressive symptoms according to the SCL and BDI, respectively, were also higher among dissatisfied patients. In multiple logistic regression analyses, mental disorders were related to life dissatisfaction when age, sex, employment status, New York Heart Association class, duration of chest pain symptoms and work load were controlled in the model. Married subjects had a lower probability of being dissatisfied with their lives than other subjects (Odds Ratio, OR: 0.23). When BDI scores were included in the model, the only factor independently associated with life dissatisfaction was the severity of depressive symptoms (OR: 1.81). To conclude, life dissatisfaction is not primarily determined by the severity of CHD but by the existence of depressive symptoms.