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Hospital Variables (hospital + variable)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Use of Patient and Hospital Variables in Interpreting Patient Satisfaction Data for Performance Improvement Purposes

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2004
Elise E. Lessing PhD
Satisfaction scores of 349 patients being discharged from a state psychiatric hospital were examined in relation to available norms for the instrument used and selected patient and hospital variables. Mean item scores fell within the less-than-satisfied category on both total and factor scores. Regression analyses indicated minimal effects of patient attributes. Two hospital factors (restraint rate on patient's unit and accessibility of psychosocial groups) significantly predicted satisfaction, with the former having an unexpected positive relationship to satisfaction. Clinicians were able to use the survey data to improve care, but patients' tendency toward undifferentiated positive or negative responding hindered the prioritizing of change efforts. [source]

A model of aggression in psychiatric hospitals

ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2002
H. L. I. Nijman
Objective:, Research of the determinants of inpatient aggression indicates that certain environmental hospital variables play a role in triggering aggression in psychiatric hospitals. Yet, how patient, staff and ward variables interact in eliciting aggression is not well understood. Method:, On the basis of earlier findings, a model was proposed in which psychopathology and distorted cognitions of the patient are combined with environmental and communicational stressors that are specific for psychiatric wards. Results:, The proposed model elucidates how certain patient, staff and ward characteristics may interact in causing aggression. The model also emphasizes that repeated inpatient aggression may be the result of a vicious circle, i.e. inpatient violence is often followed by an increase in environmental and/or communication stress on the patient, thereby heightening the risk of a repeated outburst of violence. Conclusion: Although tentative, the model may shed light on the mechanisms that lead to (repeated) violence. [source]

Evaluation of antifungals in the surgical intensive care unit: a multi-institutional study

MYCOSES, Issue 3 2006
Kevin W. Garey
Summary In the USA, >50% of candidemia episodes occur in medical or surgical intensive care units (SICU). However, studies focused on patterns and rationale for antifungal use are lacking. The objective of this study was to evaluate systemic antifungal usage in SICU patients. Retrospective audit of SICU patients receiving antifungal therapy from four American hospitals. Medical records were reviewed for demographics, hospital variables, microbiology results, antifungal regimens and indications for therapy. A total of 2411 patient-days of antifungal use were evaluated in 225 patients. Fluconazole was the most frequently prescribed antifungal (1846 patient-days) followed by amphotericin B deoxycholate (251 patient-days), lipid formulations of amphotericin B (201 patient-days), itraconazole (71 patient-days), and caspofungin (42 patient-days). Antifungals were prescribed empirically (44%), for preemptive therapy in critically ill patients colonised with Candida (43%), or for candidiasis (12%). Candida species were recovered from 98% of patients with positive fungal cultures most commonly from pulmonary (53%) or urinary sources (17%). Fluconazole is the most frequently prescribed antifungal agent in SICUs and is most often prescribed for empiric or preemptive indications. Research efforts to identify patients who warrant preemptive antifungal therapy for invasive candidiasis could dramatically change antifungal prescribing patterns in the SICU. [source]