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1.

Background

Many patients treated in Emergency Department (ED) visits can be treated at primary or urgent care sectors, despite the fact that a number of ED visitors seek other forms of care prior to an ED visit. However, little is known regarding how the pre-ED activity episodes affect ED visits.

Objectives

We investigated whether care-seeking patterns involve the use of health care services of various types prior to ED visits and examined the associations of these patterns with the severity of the presenting condition for the ED visit (EDVS) and subsequent events.

Methods

This retrospective observational study used administrative data on beneficiaries of the universal health care insurance program in Taiwan. The service type, treatment capacity, and relative diagnosis were used to classify pre-ED visits into 8 care types. Frequent pattern analysis was used to identify sequential care-seeking patterns and to classify 667,183 eligible pre-ED episodes into patterns. Generalized linear models were developed using generalized estimating equations to examine the associations of these patterns with EDVS and subsequent events.

Results

The results revealed 17 care-seeking patterns. The EDVS and likelihood of subsequent events significantly differed among patterns. The ED severity index of patterns differ from patterns seeking directly ED care (coefficients ranged from -0.05 to 0.13), and the odds-ratios for the likelihood of subsequent ED visits and hospitalization ranged from 1.18 to 1.86 and 1.16 to 2.84, respectively.

Conclusions

The pre-ED care-seeking patterns differ in severity of presenting condition and subsequent events that may represent different causes of ED visit. Future health policy maker may adopt different intervention strategies for targeted population to reduce unnecessary ED visit effectively.  相似文献   

2.

Background

The number of visits to hospital emergency departments (EDs) in England has increased by 20% since 2007-08, placing unsustainable pressure on the National Health Service (NHS). Some patients attend EDs because they are unable to access primary care services. This study examined the association between access to primary care and ED visits in England.

Methods

A cross-sectional, population-based analysis of patients registered with 7,856 general practices in England was conducted, for the time period April 2010 to March 2011. The outcome measure was the number of self-referred discharged ED visits by the registered population of a general practice. The predictor variables were measures of patient-reported access to general practice services; these were entered into a negative binomial regression model with variables to control for the characteristics of patient populations, supply of general practitioners and travel times to health services.

Main Result and Conclusion

General practices providing more timely access to primary care had fewer self-referred discharged ED visits per registered patient (for the most accessible quintile of practices, RR = 0.898; P<0.001). Policy makers should consider improving timely access to primary care when developing plans to reduce ED utilisation.  相似文献   

3.

Background

Additional healthcare visits and rehospitalizations after discharge are frequent among patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and have a major impact on healthcare costs. We aimed to determine whether the implementation of an individualized educational program for hospitalized patients with CAP would decrease subsequent healthcare visits and readmissions within 30 days of hospital discharge.

Methods

A multicenter, randomized trial was conducted from January 1, 2011 to October 31, 2014 at three hospitals in Spain. We randomly allocated immunocompetent adults patients hospitalized for CAP to receive either an individualized educational program or conventional information before discharge. The educational program included recommendations regarding fluid intake, adherence to drug therapy and preventive vaccines, knowledge and management of the disease, progressive adaptive physical activity, and counseling for alcohol and smoking cessation. The primary trial endpoint was a composite of the frequency of additional healthcare visits and rehospitalizations within 30 days of hospital discharge. Intention-to-treat analysis was performed.

Results

We assigned 102 patients to receive the individualized educational program and 105 to receive conventional information. The frequency of the composite primary end point was 23.5% following the individualized program and 42.9% following the conventional information (difference, -19.4%; 95% confidence interval, -6.5% to -31.2%; P = 0.003).

Conclusions

The implementation of an individualized educational program for hospitalized patients with CAP was effective in reducing subsequent healthcare visits and rehospitalizations within 30 days of discharge. Such a strategy may help optimize available healthcare resources and identify post-acute care needs in patients with CAP.

Trial Registration

Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN39531840  相似文献   

4.

Objective

The aim of this paper was to evaluate socio-economic factors associated to poor primary care utilization by studying two specific subjects: the hospital readmission rate, and the use of the Emergency Department (ED) for non-urgent visits.

Methods

The study was carried out by the analysis of administrative database for hospital readmission and with a specific survey for non-urgent ED use.

Results

Among the 416,698 sampled admissions, 6.39% (95% CI, 6.32–6.47) of re-admissions have been registered; the distribution shows a high frequency of events in the age 65–84 years group, and in the intermediate care hospitals (51.97%; 95%CI 51.37–52.57). The regression model has shown the significant role played by age, type of structure (geriatric acute care), and deprivation index of the area of residence on the readmission, however, after adjusting for the intensity of primary care, the role of deprivation was no more significant. Non-urgent ED visits accounted for the 12.10%, (95%CI 9.38–15.27) of the total number of respondents to the questionnaire (N = 504). The likelihood of performing a non-urgent ED visit was higher among patients aged <65 years (OR 3.2, 95%CI 1.3–7.8 p = 0.008), while it was lower among those perceiving as urgent their health problem (OR 0.50, 95%CI 0.30–0.90).

Conclusions

In the Italian context repeated readmissions and ED utilization are linked to different trajectories, besides the increasing age and comorbidity of patients are the factors that are related to repeated admissions, the self-perceived trust in diagnostic technologies is an important risk factor in determining ED visits. Better use of public national health care service is mandatory, since its correct utilization is associated to increasing equity and better health care utilization.  相似文献   

5.

Background

Several point-of-care (POC) tests are available for evaluation of febrile patients, but the data about their performance in acute care setting is sparse. We investigated the analytical accuracy and feasibility of POC tests for white blood cell (WBC) count and C-reactive protein (CRP) at the pediatric emergency department (ED).

Methods

In the first part of the study, HemoCue WBC and Afinion AS100 CRP POC analyzers were compared with laboratory’s routine WBC (Sysmex XE-2100) and CRP (Modular P) analyzers in the hospital central laboratory in 77 and 48 clinical blood samples, respectively. The POC tests were then adopted in use at the pediatric ED. In the second part of the study, we compared WBC and CRP levels measured by POC and routine methods during 171 ED patient visits by 168 febrile children and adolescents. Attending physicians performed POC tests in capillary fingerprick samples.

Results

In parallel measurements in the laboratory both WBC and CRP POC analyzers showed good agreement with the reference methods. In febrile children at the emergency department (median age 2.4 years), physician performed POC determinations in capillary blood gave comparable results with those in venous blood analyzed in the laboratory. The mean difference between POC and reference test result was 1.1 E9/L (95% limits of agreement from -6.5 to 8.8 E9/L) for WBC and -1.2 mg/L (95% limits of agreement from -29.6 to 27.2 mg/L) for CRP.

Conclusions

POC tests are feasible and relatively accurate methods to assess CRP level and WBC count among febrile children at the ED.  相似文献   

6.

Objectives

Studies suggest 2 per 1000 people in Dublin are living with HIV, the level above which universal screening is advised. We aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a universal opt-out HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C testing programme for Emergency Department patients and to describe the incidence and prevalence of blood-borne viruses in this population.

Methods

An opt-out ED blood borne virus screening programme was piloted from March 2014 to January 2015. Patients undergoing blood sampling during routine clinical care were offered HIV 1&2 antibody/antigen assay, HBV surface antigen and HCV antibody tests. Linkage to care where necessary was co-ordinated by the study team. New diagnosis and prevalence rates were defined as the new cases per 1000 tested and number of positive tests per 1000 tested respectively.

Results

Over 45 weeks of testing, of 10,000 patient visits, 8,839 individual patient samples were available for analysis following removal of duplicates. A sustained target uptake of >50% was obtained after week 3. 97(1.09%), 44(0.49%) and 447(5.05%) HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C tests were positive respectively. Of these, 7(0.08%), 20(0.22%) and 58(0.66%) were new diagnoses of HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C respectively. The new diagnosis rate for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C was 0.8, 2.26 and 6.5 per 1000 and study prevalence for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C was 11.0, 5.0 and 50.5 per 1000 respectively.

Conclusions

Opt-out blood borne viral screening was feasible and acceptable in an inner-city ED. Blood borne viral infections were prevalent in this population and newly diagnosed cases were diagnosed and linked to care. These results suggest widespread blood borne viral testing in differing clinical locations with differing population demographic risks may be warranted.  相似文献   

7.

Background

Physicians are considered to be the most informed consumers in the use of medical services since they have more information about diseases or medical technology. However, although plenty of researchers have suggested that different medical seeking behavior exists among physicians, very few empirical studies have been conducted to investigate differences in medical utilization between physicians and the general population.

Objective

We explored differences in the utilization of healthcare services between physicians and the general population using a population-based dataset.

Design

A cross-sectional study.

Participants

Data for this study were sourced from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000. We included 1426 physicians and 1426 sex- and age-matched comparison subjects.

Methods

We used Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests to explore differences in variables of healthcare resource utilization between physicians and comparison subjects. We further used Kruskal-Wallis tests to examine differences in variables of healthcare resource utilization between physician practice location and comparison subjects.

Results

We found that physicians had significantly fewer outpatient visits (13.2 vs. 15.7, p<0.001) and significantly lower outpatient costs (US$477 vs. US$680, p<0.001) than comparison subjects. Furthermore, physicians had lower total health service costs than comparison subjects (US$643 vs. US$1066, p<0.001). This indicates that the mean total health service costs in the year 2010 was 1.66-fold greater for comparison subjects than for physicians. We also found that there were significant differences in the mean number of outpatient services (p<0.001), outpatient costs (p = 0.001), inpatients costs (p = 0.018), and total costs (p = 0.001) among office-based physicians, hospital-based physicians, and comparison subjects. Specifically, Scheffe contrast tests showed that office-based physicians had significantly more outpatient visits (19.3 vs.10.7, p<0.001) and significantly higher outpatient costs (US$656 vs. US$402, p<0.001) than hospital-based physicians.

Conclusions

Physicians had less healthcare utilization than comparison subjects. Furthermore, hospital-based physicians had higher inpatient costs and less outpatient services and costs than office-based physicians.  相似文献   

8.

Background

Poor psychological and physical resilience in response to stress drives a great deal of health care utilization. Mind-body interventions can reduce stress and build resiliency. The rationale for this study is therefore to estimate the effect of mind-body interventions on healthcare utilization.

Objective

Estimate the effect of mind body training, specifically, the Relaxation Response Resiliency Program (3RP) on healthcare utilization.

Design

Retrospective controlled cohort observational study. Setting: Major US Academic Health Network. Sample: All patients receiving 3RP at the MGH Benson-Henry Institute from 1/12/2006 to 7/1/2014 (n = 4452), controls (n = 13149) followed for a median of 4.2 years (.85–8.4 yrs). Measurements: Utilization as measured by billable encounters/year (be/yr) stratified by encounter type: clinical, imaging, laboratory and procedural, by class of chief complaint: e.g., Cardiovascular, and by site of care delivery, e.g., Emergency Department. Subgroup analysis by propensity score matched pre-intervention utilization rate.

Results

At one year, total utilization for the intervention group decreased by 43% [53.5 to 30.5 be/yr] (p <0.0001). Clinical encounters decreased by 41.9% [40 to 23.2 be/yr], imaging by 50.3% [11.5 to 5.7 be/yr], lab encounters by 43.5% [9.8 to 5.6], and procedures by 21.4% [2.2 to 1.7 be/yr], all p < 0.01. The intervention group’s Emergency department (ED) visits decreased from 3.6 to 1.7/year (p<0.0001) and Hospital and Urgent care visits converged with the controls. Subgroup analysis (identically matched initial utilization rates—Intervention group: high utilizing controls) showed the intervention group significantly reduced utilization relative to the control group by: 18.3% across all functional categories, 24.7% across all site categories and 25.3% across all clinical categories.

Conclusion

Mind body interventions such as 3RP have the potential to substantially reduce healthcare utilization at relatively low cost and thus can serve as key components in any population health and health care delivery system.  相似文献   

9.

Background

Treatment efficacy and costs of anti-VEGF drugs have not been studied in clinical routine.

Objective

To compare treatment costs and clinical outcomes of the medications when adjusting for patients’ characteristics and clinical status.

Design

Comparative study.

Setting

The largest public ophthalmologic clinic in Switzerland.

Patients

Health care claims data of patients with age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macula edema and retinal vein occlusion were matched to clinical and outcome data.

Measurements

Patients’ underlying condition, gender, age, visual acuity and retinal thickness at baseline and after completing the loading phase, the total number of injections per treatment, the visual outcome and vital status was secured.

Results

We included 315 patients (19595 claims) with a follow-up time of 1 to 99 months (mean 32.7, SD 25.8) covering the years 2006–2014. Mean age was 78 years (SD 9.3) and 200 (63.5%) were female. At baseline, the mean number of letters was 55.6 (SD 16.3) and the central retinal thickness was 400.1 μm (SD 110.1). Patients received a mean number of 15.1 injections (SD 13.7; range 1 to 85). Compared to AMD, adjusted cost per month were significantly higher (+2174.88 CHF, 95%CI: 1094.50–3255.27; p<0.001) for patients with DME, while cost per month for RVO were slightly but not significantly higher. (+284.71 CHF, 95% CI: -866.73–1436.15; p = 0.627).

Conclusions

Patients with DME are almost twice as expensive as AMD and RVO patients. Cost excess occurs with non-ophthalmologic interventions. The currently licensed anti-VEGF medications did not differ in costs, injection frequency and clinical outcomes. Linking health care claims to clinical data is a useful tool to examine routine clinical care.  相似文献   

10.

Objective

Given the shortage of cost-of-illness studies in dementia outside of the Western population, the current study estimated the annual cost of dementia in Taiwan and assessed whether different categories of care costs vary by severity using multiple disease-severity measures.

Methods

This study included 231 dementia patient–caregiver dyads in a dementia clinic at a national university hospital in southern Taiwan. Three disease measures including cognitive, functional, and behavioral disturbances were obtained from patients based on medical history. A societal perspective was used to estimate the total costs of dementia according to three cost sub-categories. The association between dementia severity and cost of care was examined through bivariate and multivariate analyses.

Results

Total costs of care for moderate dementia patient were 1.4 times the costs for mild dementia and doubled from mild to severe dementia among our community-dwelling dementia sample. Multivariate analysis indicated that functional declines had a greater impact on all cost outcomes as compared to behavioral disturbance, which showed no impact on any costs. Informal care costs accounted for the greatest share in total cost of care for both mild (42%) and severe (43%) dementia patients.

Conclusions

Since the total costs of dementia increased with severity, providing care to delay disease progression, with a focus on maintaining patient physical function, may reduce the overall cost of dementia. The greater contribution of informal care to total costs as opposed to social care also suggests a need for more publicly-funded long-term care services to assist family caregivers of dementia patients in Taiwan.  相似文献   

11.

Importance

There is growing evidence that vitamin D plays a role in the pathogenesis of asthma but it is unclear whether supplementation during childhood may improve asthma outcomes.

Objectives

The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of vitamin D supplementation as a treatment or adjunct treatment for asthma.

Data Sources

We searched MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, and CINAHL through July 2014.

Study Selection

We included RCTs that evaluated vitamin D supplementation in children versus active control or placebo for asthma.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

One reviewer extracted data and one reviewer verified data accuracy. We qualitatively summarized the main results of efficacy and safety and meta-analyzed data on comparable outcomes across studies. We used GRADE for strength of evidence.

Main Outcome Measures

Main planned outcomes measures were ED visits and hospitalizations. As secondary outcomes, we examined measures of asthma control, including frequency of asthma exacerbations, asthma symptom scores, measures of lung function, β2-agonist use and daily steroid use, adverse events and 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels.

Results

Eight RCTs (one parallel, one crossover design) comprising 573 children aged 3 to 18 years were included. One study (moderate-quality, n = 100) reported significantly less ED visits for children treated with vitamin D. No other studies examined the primary outcome (ED visits and hospitalizations). There was a reduced risk of asthma exacerbations in children receiving vitamin D (low-quality; RR 0.41, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.63, 3 studies, n = 378). There was no significant effect for asthma symptom scores and lung function. The serum 25(OH)D level was higher in the vitamin D group at the end of the intervention (low-quality; MD 19.66 nmol/L, 95% CI 5.96 nmol/L to 33.37 nmol/L, 5 studies, n = 167).

Limitations

We identified a high degree of clinical diversity (interventions and outcomes) and methodological heterogeneity (sample size and risk of bias) in included trials.

Conclusions and Relevance

Randomized controlled trials provide some low-quality evidence to support vitamin D supplementation for the reduction of asthma exacerbations. Evidence on the benefits of vitamin D supplementation for other asthma-related outcomes in children is either limited or inconclusive. We recommend that future trials focus on patient-relevant outcomes that are comparable across studies, including standardized definitions of asthma exacerbations.  相似文献   

12.

Purpose

To assess the impact of mental health visits (MHV) on the cost of care for Veterans with diabetes and comorbid mental health conditions.

Methods

A national cohort of 120,852 Veterans with diabetes and at least one mental health diagnosis (i.e., substance abuse, depression or psychoses) in 2002 was followed through 2006. Outcomes were pharmacy, inpatient and outpatient costs in 2012 dollars.

Results

Least-square covariate adjusted estimates from the joint model of total VA costs of the number of MHV using December 31, 2012 value dollars indicate that relative to those with fewer MHV, those with 3+ MHV had the lowest mean inpatient cost ($21,406), but the highest mean outpatient and pharmacy cost ($9,727 and $2,015, respectively). If all Veterans who received zero MHV actually received 3+ MHV, we estimate through simulated scenarios that between $32,272,329 and $181,460,247 in inpatient costs would be saved. However, these savings would be offset by additional expenditures of between $1,166,017,547 and $1,166,224,787 in outpatient costs and between $151,604,683 and $161,439,632 in pharmacy costs.

Conclusions

Among Veterans with diabetes and comorbid mental disorders having three or more mental health visits is associated with marginally decreased inpatient cost, but these potential savings seem to be offset by increased outpatient and pharmacy costs.  相似文献   

13.

Objective

To present evidence on the total costs and unit costs of delivering six integrated sexual reproductive health and HIV services in a high and medium HIV prevalence setting, in order to support policy makers and planners scaling up these essential services.

Design

A retrospective facility based costing study conducted in 40 non-government organization and public health facilities in Kenya and Swaziland.

Methods

Economic and financial costs were collected retrospectively for the year 2010/11, from each study site with an aim to estimate the cost per visit of six integrated HIV and SRH services. A full cost analysis using a combination of bottom-up and step-down costing methods was conducted from the health provider’s perspective. The main unit of analysis is the economic unit cost per visit for each service. Costs are converted to 2013 International dollars.

Results

The mean cost per visit for the HIV/SRH services ranged from $Int 14.23 (PNC visit) to $Int 74.21 (HIV treatment visit). We found considerable variation in the unit costs per visit across settings with family planning services exhibiting the least variation ($Int 6.71-52.24) and STI treatment and HIV treatment visits exhibiting the highest variation in unit cost ranging from ($Int 5.44-281.85) and ($Int 0.83-314.95), respectively. Unit costs of visits were driven by fixed costs while variability in visit costs across facilities was explained mainly by technology used and service maturity.

Conclusion

For all services, variability in unit costs and cost components suggest that potential exists to reduce costs through better use of both human and capital resources, despite the high proportion of expenditure on drugs and medical supplies. Further work is required to explore the key drivers of efficiency and interventions that may facilitate efficiency improvements.  相似文献   

14.

Background

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Comorbidities are often reported in patients with COPD and may influence the cost of care. Yet, the extent by which comorbidities affect costs remains to be determined.

Objectives

To review, quantify and evaluate excess costs of comorbidities in COPD.

Methods

Using a systematic review approach, Pubmed and Embase were searched for studies analyzing excess costs of comorbidities in COPD. Resulting studies were evaluated according to study characteristics, comorbidity measurement and cost indicators. Mark-up factors were calculated for respective excess costs. Furthermore, a checklist of quality criteria was applied.

Results

Twelve studies were included. Nine evaluated comorbidity specific costs; three examined index-based results. Pneumonia, cardiovascular disease and diabetes were associated with the highest excess costs. The mark-up factors for respective excess costs ranged between 1.5 and 2.5 in the majority of cases. On average the factors constituted a doubling of respective costs in the comorbid case. The main cost driver, among all studies, was inpatient cost. Indirect costs were not accounted for by the majority of studies. Study heterogeneity was high.

Conclusions

The reviewed studies clearly show that comorbidities are associated with significant excess costs in COPD. The inclusion of comorbid costs and effects in future health economic evaluations of preventive or therapeutic COPD interventions seems highly advisable.  相似文献   

15.

Introduction

Sickle cell anemia has many sequelae that result in emergency department (ED) use, but a minority of patients with sickle cell disease are frequent utilizers and make up the majority of ED visits. If patients who are likely to be frequent ED can be identified in steady state, they can be treated with disease modifying agents in an attempt to reduce ED use frequency. We sought to identify steady state markers for frequent ED use.

Methods

We identified all patients with SS/Sβ0 seen at our facilities in 2012. Health care utilization over the entire year was calculated and ED visit numbers categorized as either 0–1, 2–5, or 6 or more visits a year. Steady state and acutely active laboratory parameters were collected and analyzed using analysis of variance models and odds ratios.

Results

432 adult sickle cell patients were identified, ages 18–87, 54% female, and 38% had been prescribed hydroxyurea. Of the 432 patients,192 had 0–1 visits in the year, 144 had 2–5 visits in the year, and 96 had >6 visits for a total of 2259 visits. Those who had >6 visits accounted for 1750 (77%) of the total visits for the year. When steady state laboratory markers were examined, each additional 50x109/L platelets was associated with 22% greater risk (p < .001); each 1x109/L of WBC was associated with 11% greater risk (p = .003), and each 1g/dL Hb was associated with 23% lower risk (p = .007) of >6 ED visits/year. We did not observe a relationship between baseline HbF, LDH or reticulocyte count with >6 ED visits.

Conclusion

Patients with elevated white blood cell counts, elevated platelet counts, and low hemoglobin levels exhibited higher risk for frequent ED utilization and could be candidates for early and aggressive therapy with disease modifying agents.  相似文献   

16.

Objectives

To examine epidemiological trends of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) treated in the Emergency Department (ED), identify demographic groups at risk of TBI, and determine the factors associated with hospitalization following an ED visit for TBI.

Methods

A province-wide database was used to identify all ED visits for TBI in Ontario, Canada between April 2002 and March 2010. Trends were analyzed using linear regression, and predictors of hospital admission were evaluated using logistic regression.

Results

There were 986,194 ED visits for TBI over the eight-year study period, resulting in 49,290 hospitalizations and 1,072 deaths. The age- and sex-adjusted rate of TBI decreased by 3%, from 1,013.9 per 100,000 (95% CI 1,008.3–1,010.6) to 979.1 per 100,000 (95% CI 973.7–984.4; p = 0.11). We found trends towards increasing age, comorbidity level, length of stay, and ambulatory transport use. Children and young adults (ages 5–24) sustained peak rates of motor vehicle crash (MVC) and bicyclist-related TBI, but also experienced the greatest decline in these rates (p = 0.003 and p = 0.005). In contrast, peak rates of fall-related TBI occurred among the youngest (ages 0–4) and oldest (ages 85+) segments of the population, but rates remained stable over time (p = 0.52 and 0.54). The 5–24 age group also sustained the highest rates of sports-related TBI but rates remained stable (p = 0.80). On multivariate analysis, the odds of hospital admission decreased by 1% for each year over the study period (OR = 0.991, 95% CI = 0.987–0.995). Increasing age and comorbidity, male sex, and ambulatory transport were significant predictors of hospital admission.

Conclusions

ED visits for TBI are involving older populations with increasingly complex comorbidities. While TBI rates are either stable or declining among vulnerable groups such as young drivers, youth athletes, and the elderly, these populations remain key targets for focused injury prevention and surveillance. Clinicians in the ED setting should be cognizant of factors associated with hospitalization following TBI.

Level of Evidence

III.

Study Design

Cross-sectional.  相似文献   

17.

Objectives

To evaluate the magnitude and impact of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) in emergency department (ED) settings from 2006–2010 in the United States (US).

Methods

This cross-sectional study utilized Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) National Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) discharge records of ED cases among persons ≥18 years with any-listed diagnosis of DFUs. Multivariable analyses were conducted for clinical outcomes of patient disposition from the ED and economic outcomes of charges and lengths of stay based upon patient demographic and socioeconomic factors, hospital characteristics, and comorbid disease states.

Results

Overall, 1,019,861 cases of diabetic foot complications presented to EDs in the US from 2006–2010, comprising 1.9% of the 54.2 million total diabetes cases. The mean patient age was 62.5 years and 59.4% were men. The national bill was $1.9 billion per year in the ED and $8.78 billion per year (US$ 2014) including inpatient charges among the 81.2% of cases that were admitted. Clinical outcomes included mortality in 2.0%, sepsis in 9.6% of cases and amputation in 10.5% (major-minor amputation ratio of 0.46). Multivariable analyses found that those residing in non-urban locations were associated with +51.3%, +14.9%, and +41.4% higher odds of major amputation, minor amputation, and inpatient death, respectively (p<0.05). Medicaid beneficiaries incurred +21.1% and +25.1% higher odds for major or minor amputations, respectively, than Medicare patients (p<0.05). Persons within the lowest income quartile regions were associated with a +38.5% higher odds of major amputation (p<0.05) versus the highest income regions.

Conclusion

Diabetic foot complications exact a substantial clinical and economic toll in acute care settings, particularly among the rural and working poor. Clear opportunities exist to reduce costs and improve outcomes for this systematically-neglected condition by establishing effective practice paradigms for screening, prevention, and coordinated care.  相似文献   

18.

Study objective

To assess the association of patient and organisational factors with emergency department length of stay (ED-LOS) in elderly ED patients (226565 years old) and in younger patients (<65 years old).

Methods

A retrospective cohort study of internal medicine patients visiting the emergency department between September 1st 2010 and August 31st 2011 was performed. All emergency department visits by internal medicine patients 226565 years old and a random sample of internal medicine patients <65 years old were included. Organisational factors were defined as non-medical factors. ED-LOS is defined as the time between ED arrival and ED discharge or admission. Prolonged ED-LOS is defined as ≥75th percentile of ED-LOS in the study population, which was 208 minutes.

Results

Data on 1782 emergency department visits by elderly patients and 597 emergency department visits by younger patients were analysed. Prolonged ED-LOS in elderly patients was associated with three organisational factors: >1 consultation during the emergency department visit (odds ratio (OR) 3.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.3–4.3), a higher number of diagnostic tests (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.16–1.33) and evaluation by a medical student or non-trainee resident compared with a medical specialist (OR 4.2, 95% CI 2.0–8.8 and OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.4–3.9). In younger patients, prolonged ED-LOS was associated with >1 consultation (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.4–4.6). Factors associated with shorter ED-LOS were arrival during nights or weekends as well as a high urgency level in elderly patients and self-referral in younger patients.

Conclusion

Organisational factors, such as a higher number of consultations and tests in the emergency department and a lower seniority of the physician, were the main aspects associated with prolonged ED-LOS in elderly patients. Optimisation of the organisation and coordination of emergency care is important to accommodate the needs of the continuously growing number of elderly patients in a better way.  相似文献   

19.

Background

One major goal of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is to improve continuity of care between patients and providers and reduce the utilization of non-primary care services like the emergency department (ED).

Objective

To characterize continuity under the Veterans Health Administration’s PCMH model – the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT), at one large Veterans Affair’s (VA’s) primary care clinic, determine the characteristics associated with high levels of continuity, and assess the association between continuity and ED visits.

Design

Retrospective, observational cohort study of patients at the West Haven VA (WHVA) Primary Care Clinic from March 2011 to February 2012.

Patients

The 13,495 patients with established care at the Clinic, having at least one visit, one year before March 2011.

Main Measures

Our exposure variable was continuity of care –a patient seeing their assigned primary care provider (PCP) at each clinic visit. The outcome of interest was having an ED visit.

Results

The patients encompassed 42,969 total clinic visits, and 3185 (24%) of them had 15,458 ED visits. In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, patients with continuity of care – at least one visit with their assigned PCP – had lower ED utilization compared to individuals without continuity (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.54; 95% CI: 0.41, 0.71), controlling for frequency of primary care visits, comorbidities, insurance, distance from the ED, and having a trainee PCP assigned. Likewise, the adjusted rate of ED visits was 544/1000 person-year (PY) for patients with continuity vs. 784/1000 PY for patients without continuity (p = 0.001). Compared to patients with low continuity (<33% of visits), individuals with medium (33–50%) and high (>50%) continuity were less likely to utilize the ED.

Conclusions

Strong continuity of care is associated with decreased ED utilization in a PCMH model and improving continuity may help reduce the utilization of non-primary care services.  相似文献   

20.

Objective

Consultations occur frequently in the emergency department (ED) of tertiary care centres and pose a threat for patient safety as they contribute to ED lengths of stay (LOS) and overcrowding. The aim of this study was to investigate reasons and appropriateness of consultations, and the relative impact of specialty and patient characteristics on the probability of a consultation, because this could help to improve efficiency of ED patient care.

Methods

This prospective cohort study included ED patients presenting to a Dutch tertiary care centre in a setting where ED physicians mostly treat self-referred and undifferentiated patients and other specialists treat referred patients. Consultations were defined as appropriate if the reason of consultation corresponded with the final advice, conclusion or policy of the consulted specialty. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relative contribution of specialty and patient characteristics on consultation.

Results

In the 344 (24% (95% CI 22 to 26%)) of the 1434 inclusions another specialty was consulted, resulting in a 55% increase of ED LOS. ED physicians more often consulted another specialty with a corrected odds ratio (OR) of 5.6 (4.0 to 7.8), mostly because consultations were mandatory in case of hospitalization or outpatient follow-up. Limited expertise of ED physicians was the reason for consultation in 7% (5 to 9%). The appropriateness of consultations was 84% (81 to 88%), similar between ED physicians and other specialists (P = 0.949). The patient characteristics age, comorbidity, and triage category and complaint predicted consultation.

Conclusion

In a Dutch tertiary care centre another specialty was consulted in 24% of the patients, mostly for an appropriate reason, and rarely because of lack of expertise. The impact of consultations on ED LOS could be reduced if mandatory consultations are abolished and predictors of a consultation are used to facilitate timely consultation.  相似文献   

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