A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examines to what extent and in which ways health care utilization — such as in-patient hospitalizations, emergency department use, and hospital readmission — reflects a patient’s disease severity, disability, and ability to perform gainful activity. The committee that conducted the study could not… Continue reading New report Examines Social Security’s Process for Determining Disability in Adults
Tag: hospitals
Family Involvement in Patient Care Reduces Hospital Readmission Rates
A program that allows family members of hospitalized patients to assist in their care improved healing and reduced readmission rates, according to researchers from a Utah health-care system. The voluntary program, Partners in Healing, provides chances for family members to learn about, and help, with basic care for their loved ones – and that, in… Continue reading Family Involvement in Patient Care Reduces Hospital Readmission Rates
A New Weapon in The Fight Against Flu
The use of far ultraviolet C (far-UVC) light can kill airborne flu viruses without harming human tissues, researchers say. And the investigators, from the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), say their findings suggest that such light could be used in hospitals, schools, airports and other public spaces to provide… Continue reading A New Weapon in The Fight Against Flu
Researchers Call for Hospitals to Establish Bereavement Programs
Backed by a growing body of research, investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston are calling for all hospitals to establish bereavement programs for families of deceased patients. In a paper in the November 2015 issue of the Journal of Palliative Medicine, the researchers say such programs – which guide and support people through the… Continue reading Researchers Call for Hospitals to Establish Bereavement Programs
Antibiotics In Food Can Affect Patients
Scientists are saying that hospitals should combat the spread of antibiotic resistance by refusing to buy meat from animals that were given antibiotics for growth promotion. For the last two years, University of California San Francisco Medical Center has been phasing out meat from animals that were routinely fed antibiotics, and now nearly a third… Continue reading Antibiotics In Food Can Affect Patients
Treatment for Stroke Shows Wide Regional Variations
According to a new study, treatment for stroke varies sharply from region to region – and thousands of people a year may end up unnecessarily disabled as a result. In the July issue of the journal Stroke, University of Michigan Medical School researchers report the results of a study that for the first time shows… Continue reading Treatment for Stroke Shows Wide Regional Variations
Are Some Hospital Patients Kept Longer than Necessary?
Some hospitals may be keeping patients longer than necessary because of the way Medicare determines payment rates, according to a study from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Medicare pays these facilities – known as long-term hospitals – at a higher rate for patients who stay for at least a certain number of days;… Continue reading Are Some Hospital Patients Kept Longer than Necessary?
Some Hospitals Not Doing Enough to Protect Patients From Infection
Almost half the hospitals who took part in a study aren’t doing what they should to prevent Clostridium difficile bacteria, which sickens hundreds of thousands of people each year. While nearly all of the 398 hospitals in the study use a variety of measures to protect their patients from C. diff infections, a team of… Continue reading Some Hospitals Not Doing Enough to Protect Patients From Infection