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A new study shows that pediatric nurse staffing ratios are significantly associated with hospital readmission for children with common medical and surgical conditions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-nurse-staffing-ratios-affect-hospital.html Health Wed, 08 May 2013 00:10:01 EST news287161768 (HealthDay)—There is a lack of communication between doctors and their elderly patients about end-of-life plans, a new Canadian study reveals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-doctors-dont-end-of-life.html Health Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:40:01 EST news284052396 Policy and practice changes by healthcare institutions, providers and others could greatly improve medical care and improve survival for people who have a sudden cardiac arrest in the hospital, according to an American Heart Association consensus statement in its journal, Circulation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-in-hospital-cardiac-survival.html Cardiology Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:00:01 EST news282226421 Hospital beds tend to get used simply because they're available – not necessarily because they're needed, according to a first-of-its-kind study that supports continued regulation of new hospitals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-hospitals.html Other Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:20:02 EST news279996788 A study published Feb. 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that while more seniors are dying with hospice care than a decade ago, they are increasingly doing so for very few days right after being in intensive care. The story told by the data, said the study's lead author, is that for many seniors palliative care happens only as an afterthought. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-proportion-medicare-patients-dying-hospitals.html Health Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:30:10 EST news279302530 Traumatic injury – including car accidents, gunshot wounds, and stabbings – is the leading cause of death for people younger than 40 years old in the United States, but despite the toll of these injuries, few emergency medical interventions considered to be the standard of care for these injuries have been rigorously studied in clinical trials, because patients and their families are typically unable to consent to participate in research. A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sought to examine peoples' willingness to be enrolled in these types of studies under the federal provisions that allow patients with time-sensitive illnesses and injuries to be part of clinical trials without their express consent. The study revealed that those surveyed expressed high levels of approval and willingness to be part of these types of trials, both for themselves and their family members and friends. The findings provide important clues for increasing the number of studies aimed at improving care for this patient population. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-trauma-patients-exception-consent.html Surgery Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:42:23 EST news278959334 An acute care surgery model led to improvement in the quality of surgical patient care and reduced the cost of emergency surgical care at Loma Linda University Medical Center, report researchers who published their findings in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-acute-surgical-quality-lowers-procedures.html Surgery Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:45:52 EST news271521942 (HealthDay)—Steps to manage pain and stress in pediatric emergency medical care are recommended, according to a clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published online Oct. 29 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-systematic-pain-children-er.html Pediatrics Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:20:01 EST news270741384 A stay in the hospital may not be the only way to acquire Clostridium difficile diarrhea – but the potentially life-threatening infection may be associated with a number of health complications in hospitalized children, according to the findings from two studies unveiled today at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 77th Annual Scientific meeting in Las Vegas. In a separate case report also presented today, fecal microbiota transplantation in a 20-month old with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) suggests the therapeutic potential fecal bacteriotherapy in pediatric patients who fail standard therapy for CDI. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-highlights-epidemiology-clostridium-difficile.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 22 Oct 2012 10:00:00 EST news270118790 (HealthDay)—Patient age, severe neurological impairment, and forced vital capacity (FVC) are useful for predicting the need for tracheostomy in the management of patients with cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI) in the acute care setting, according to research published online Sept. 19 in Spine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-factors-tracheostomy-spinal-cord-injury.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:10:01 EST news268581277 Today investigators at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City reported the first use of whole genome information for diagnosing critically ill infants. As reported in Science Translational Medicine, the team describes STAT-Seq, a whole genome sequencing approach - from blood sample to returning results to a physician - in about 50 hours. Currently, testing even a single gene takes six weeks or more. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-hour-genome-sequencing-rapid-diagnosis.html Genetics Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:00:05 EST news268488385 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year nearly 100,000 hospitalized patients die from infections acquired while undergoing treatment for other conditions. While many factors may contribute to the phenomenon, nurse staffing (i.e., the number of patients assigned to a nurse) has been implicated as a major cause. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-links-hospital-infections-nurse-burnout.html Health Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:31:23 EST news267971472 A large-scale review of national patient records reveals that although survival rates are the same, the cost of treating trauma patients in the western United States is 33 percent higher than the bill for treating similarly injured patients in the Northeast. Overall, treatment costs were lower in the Northeast than anywhere in the United States. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-trauma-doesnt-higher-survival.html Surgery Fri, 10 Aug 2012 04:39:43 EST news263792329 (Medical Xpress) -- Most people killed or wounded in stray-bullet shootings were unaware of events leading to the gunfire that caused their injuries, and nearly one-third of the victims were children and nearly half were female, according to a new nationwide study examining an often-overlooked form of gun violence. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-stray-bullet-women-kids.html Other Tue, 10 Jul 2012 07:30:01 EST news261123477 Three provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) intended to enhance care transitions and prevent avoidable outcomes for the Medicare population are found to have inadequately addressed the needs of older, vulnerable recipients of long-term services and supports, according to George Washington University School of Nursing Assistant Research Professor Ellen Kurtzman, MPH, RN, FAAN. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-negative-consequences-elderly-recipients.html Health Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:43:28 EST news259591392 People who are seriously injured in a car accident are more than 30 per cent more likely to survive at least 48 hours if they are taken directly to a trauma centre than those who are taken first to a non-trauma centre, new research has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-car-victims-survive-trauma-centre.html Surgery Fri, 08 Jun 2012 10:11:05 EST news258369051 The introduction of daily bathing with disposable, germ-killing cloths resulted in a sustained, significant decrease in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) incidence at a Canadian geriatric facility, according to a poster presented at the 39th Annual Educational Conference and International Meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-mrsa-incidence-elderly-patients-percent.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 05 Jun 2012 03:22:45 EST news258085348 Researchers who examined the income levels of patients at central Toronto hospitals found that people in the highest and lowest income brackets are being hospitalized for different reasons and that different hospitals serve different income groups. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-richest-poorest-people-toronto-hospitalized.html Health Mon, 04 Jun 2012 11:53:33 EST news258029607 In-hospital mortality for ICU patients is often used as a quality measure, but discharge practices may bias results in a way that disadvantages large academic hospitals, according to a recently conducted study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-in-hospital-mortality-icu-bias-quality.html Other Mon, 21 May 2012 09:47:46 EST news256812454 (Medical Xpress) -- Hospitals are currently under pressure to control the cost of medical care, while at the same time improving patient health and reducing medical errors through appropriate nurse staffing levels. A study into the effects of a law requiring increased nurse-to-patient ratios on patient mortality finds that mandating such changes do not reduce adverse patient outcomes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-reveals-nurse-to-patient-ratios-patient-safety.html Health Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:00:01 EST news249554268 New research published in the journal Age and Ageing suggests that timely acute care immediately after a stroke reduces the level of disability in stroke survivors and the associated need for long-term care, therefore reducing aftercare costs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-acute.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:07:27 EST news241956436 Healthcare workers who wear gloves while treating patients are much less likely to clean their hands before and after patient contact, according to a study published in the December issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. This failure of basic hand hygiene could be contributing to the spread of infection in healthcare settings, the researchers say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-latex-gloves-lax-hygiene-hospitals.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:06:26 EST news239551579 Using a specially designed risk assessment tool was an effective way of identifying violent hospital patients in medical and surgical units, according to a study in the November issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-aggression-tool-violent-patients-medical.html Other Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:35:16 EST news238235706