The European Social Policy Network (ESPN), which is funded by the European Commission and managed jointly by LISER, Applica and the European Social Observatory, has just published a Synthesis Report describing the main features of health systems in terms of access to healthcare in 35 European countries.
In an editorial published today in the BMJ, researchers from King's College London and the University of the Arts London (UAL) argue that it is a worsening problem, with levels regularly exceeding international recommendations.
The scene is shadowy, and the background music foreboding. On the TV screen, a stream of beleaguered humans stands in an unending line. "If you are waiting patiently for a liver transplant, it could cost you your life," warns the narrator.
In one of the largest studies to measure the burden of antibiotic resistance in a low- or middle-income country, researchers at the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy report that in-hospital mortality is significantly higher among patients infected with multi-drug resistant (MDR) or extensively drug resistant (XDR) pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii.
A team of researchers from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and the Berkeley School of Public Health at UC Berkeley recently conducted a study designed to help answer that question and to better understand how patient engagement and activation (PAE) practices like goal-setting, motivational interviewing, and shared decision making are being integrated into clinical practice.
Several years ago, drug shortages became headline news when supplies of three different drugs used to treat childhood cancers were running low in major hospitals. Sometimes shortages like those are resolved before patients are harmed.
Individual and work-related factors may be helpful in promoting positive engagement with work among hospital physicians, according to a study in the December issue of Medical Care. The study provides insights into the emerging evidence on the characteristics and outcomes affecting physician engagement an area of growing focus in healthcare improvement efforts.
Physicians who believe they have been subjected to unfair treatment and/or discipline by a state medical board, physician health program (PHP), or other regulatory bodies now have a place to turn for information, advice, and support.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools trained to detect pneumonia on chest X-rays suffered significant decreases in performance when tested on data from outside health systems, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount and published in a special issue of PLOS Medicine on machine learning and health care.
University of Minnesota Medical School researchers seek to identify the relationship between insurance coverage and the mortality rate of patients transferred between hospitals. Recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine Insurance Coverage Predicts Mortality in Patients Transferred Between Hospitals: a Cross-Sectional Study, found that patients without insurance are more likely to be transferred earlier in the process, more frequently from the emergency department, and had higher mortality
Researchers who checked patients' blood samples for medication concentration found that more than half were taking prescription and/or over-the-counter drugs not listed in their electronic health record (EHR), indicating potential threats to patient safety.
What are the goals of healthcare? That very question must be asked more frequently before healthcare-related choices are made. This is what Martine de Vries, Professor of Normative Aspects of Medicine, advocated during her inaugural lecture on Friday, 2 November 2018.