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A review of riverine fluxes of hexachlorocyclohexane and DDT to the Azov and Black seas from the former USSR and Russian Federation.

While the Azov and Black seas are subject to anthropogenic pollution to a much higher extent than any other seas, this has been little studied with only a few critical reviews of contaminant fluxes to these seas. Riverine fluxes of the organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and DDT to the Azov and Black seas from the former Soviet Union and Russian Federation were thus reviewed for 1986 to 1996. The review was based on official data and data obtained by independent specialists. The amount of HCH used, and the intensity of usage, in these river catchments decreased during the review period. Concurrently, OCP concentrations in the rivers and their fluxes also decreased according to both official and independent data. A comparison of the official and the independent data sets for 1988 revealed significant differences, reflecting the need for more rigorous sampling and analytical protocols for both data sets. According to the OGSNK/GSN data, the flux rates of the five largest rivers were ranked (from largest to smallest) as follows: Don > Dnestr > Danube > Kuban > Dnepro (alpha-HCH); Danube > Don > Dnestr > Dnepro > Kuban (gamma-HCH); Dnestr > Danube > Don > Dnepro-Kuban (DDT+DDE). For rivers with lower annual riverine discharges, the DDT fluxes were surprisingly high (0.43 to 1.49 tonnes a(-1)). According to independent data for 1988 the rankings of the rivers was: Danube > Don > Dnepro > Dnestr > Kuban (alpha-HCH); Danube > Don > Dnestr > Dnepro > Kuban (gamma-HCH); Danube > Dnepro > Dnestr > Don > Kuban (DDT); Danube > Dnepro > Don > Kuban > Dnestr (DDE). The DDT flux estimates for small rivers derived from independent data were 19 to 46 times lower than those calculated using OGSNK/GSN data. According to the independent data, the total riverine OCP transport from the Russian Federation into the Azov Sea from 1988 to 1996 was 1.288 tonnes of gamma-HCH+alpha-HCH and 1.693 tonnes of DDT+DDE while for the Black Sea they were 3.830 tonnes and 5.116 tonnes for gamma-HCH+alpha-HCH and DDT+DDE, respectively.

Agriculture↗

To stay or not to stay. The assessment of appropriate hospital stay: a Dutch report.

OBJECTIVE: To adjust the adult-medical Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) into a valid and reliable instrument for use in the Dutch health care system, to assess the appropriateness of hospital stay and to identify the causes of inappropriateness. DESIGN: The appropriateness of hospital stay was assessed in a cross-sectional survey on a sample of over 4500 days of stay using a modified, Dutch version of the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (D-AEP). SETTING: The appropriateness of stay was assessed in five internal and surgical departments for adult acute care in the University Hospital of Maastricht, a 700-bed hospital with a teaching and regional function, located in the southern part of the Netherlands. RESULTS: The results showed that over 20% of the hospital stay was inappropriate. Half of the inappropriate hospital stay (45.1%) was due to (internal) hospital procedures. The D-AEP proved to be valid (kappa = 0.76; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.68-0.84), reliable (kappa = 0.84; 95% CI 0.75-0.93) and easy to use. CONCLUSION: A substantial proportion of hospital stay was found to be inappropriate, due to hospital procedures and the inability to refer patients to other care facilities or care providers. The D-AEP can be used for monitoring the appropriate hospital stay and in detecting possible causes of inappropriate stay. Analysis of the causes of inappropriate hospital stay provided useful data for improvement actions.

Adult↗

The effect of regionalization upon the quality of trauma care as assessed by concurrent audit before and after institution of a trauma system: a preliminary report.

To assess the need for a trauma system in San Diego County, a concurrent audit of trauma care was performed by an independent consultant in 1982. During the study period from 15 March through 15 June 1982, 591 consecutive major trauma victims (MTV) were collected by the 30 participating hospitals. All medical records, including autopsy reports, were audited for the timeliness and appropriateness of diagnosis and definitive care. Deaths were classified as being not preventable, potentially salvageable, or preventable. A trauma system subsequently became functional on 1 August 1984, with five adult centers and one pediatric center. A Medical Audit Committee composed of physicians and nurses from designated and nondesignated hospitals was organized to perform a monthly concurrent audit of trauma care. Between 1 August and 31 December 1984, 1,366 MTV were triaged to trauma centers. The care of MTV was considered suboptimal in 32% of patients before regionalization, compared to 4.2% after regionalization (p less than 0.01). Preventable deaths occurred in 13.6% of fatalities occurring before implementation of a trauma system, compared to 2.7% after implementation (p less than 0.01). Regionalization of trauma care significantly reduced delays, inadequate care, and preventable deaths due to trauma.

Adolescent↗

Trauma surgeons can render definitive surgical care for major thoracic injuries.

Restrictions on the operative domain of general surgeons threaten the viability of trauma surgery as a career choice. Our study hypothesis is that an experienced trauma surgeon can provide definitive care for life-threatening thoracic trauma. This analysis is based on clinical outcomes at an ACS-verified level I center in which there are more than 3000 trauma admissions managed annually under the direction of four academic trauma surgeons. We selected penetrating cardiac wounds and blunt tears of the thoracic aorta because these injuries are managed exclusively by the trauma service and the endpoints are distinct. During the past 4 years, 40 patients with cardiac wounds were delivered to the ED; 23 patients arrived dead. In the remaining 17, injury mechanisms were 15 stab wounds (SW), one gunshot wound (GSW), and one shotgun (SGW). Four of these patients required ED thoracotomy, and the remaining 13 underwent some form of prethoracotomy pericardial decompression. Survival rate without neurologic deficit was 94% (16 of 17). During this same period, 19 patients with a torn thoracic aorta from blunt injuries arrived with signs of life. In this group the injury mechanisms were automobile crash in 15, and the mean ISS was 39.7 +/- 2.3. One patient was transferred for total cardiopulmonary bypass; 17 of the remaining patients underwent aortic repair employing partial left heart bypass. Sixteen of our 18 patients lived and none developed paraplegia. In summary, excluding patients who arrived dead, survival for penetrating cardiac wounds was 94% and for blunt thoracic aortic tears 89%. In conclusion, these data support our contention that trauma surgeons can render definitive care for thoracic injuries with survival rates comparable to those reported by cardiothoracic surgeons.

Adolescent↗

Quality assurance through automated monitoring and concurrent feedback using a computer-based medical information system.

A computer-based medical information system (COSTAR) has been used to support a quality assurance program where the data collection is an integral part of the patient care recording activity and, therefore, does not require a separate abstracting or encoding process. This program utilizes concurrent audit to detect deficiencies in patient care, and automatic rapid feedback to the responsible provider in time to allow the provider to correct the deficiency. This system has been demonstrated to improve follow-up of throat cultures, positive for Group A Beta hemolytic streptococcus. It is well accepted by the medical staff whose practice is being audited. Because the data are collected as part of the routine operation of COSTAR, the computer monitoring and feedback have only a small incremental cost.

Boston↗

Improving physician documentation through a clinical documentation management program.

Improving physician documentation ensures that the patient's clinical course is clearly recorded. North Carolina Baptist Hospital implemented interventions addressing physician documentation to ensure the assignment of the most appropriate diagnosis-related group (DRG) when it launched the Clinical Documentation Management Program (CDMP). Collaboration between registered nurses trained as clinical documentation consultants (CDC) and certified coding specialists as well as ongoing physician education has resulted in more accurate and complete documentation in the medical record.

Concurrent Review↗

Preliminary experience with 2-octylcyanoacrylate in a pediatric emergency department.

OBJECTIVE: Documentation of use of octylcyanoacrylate adhesives in a pediatric emergency department with reference to patient selection, complications, and parent satisfaction. DESIGN: Retrospective and concurrent chart review of the first 100 patients on which 2-octylcyanoacrylate (2-OCA, Dermabonda) was used in a pediatric emergency department. Additional telephone follow-up was performed for each patient. RESULTS: The average patient age was 4.7 years, average laceration size 1.2 cm. Sixteen percent of wounds were repaired with 2-OCA. Three immediate complications involved a minor dehiscence and two eyelid adhesions. Two wound infections and a patient with hematoma and keloid formation were identified as later complications. The vast majority of parents preferred tissue adhesive repair to sutures. Time in department was reduced from 106 minutes to 69 minutes on average (P < 0.0001, CI 26-52). CONCLUSIONS: Octylcyanoacrylate adhesives performed well in the daily practice of a pediatric emergency department, and were used for a significant percentage of laceration closures. Convenience, average infection rates, and good parental satisfaction make tissue adhesives a valuable addition to our wound closure techniques. Certain pitfalls occurring during early experience with these adhesives can be recognized and avoided.

Adolescent↗

The effect of total parenteral nutrition-induced cholestasis on theophylline clearance in neonates.

The effect of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) induced cholestasis on theophylline clearance was examined in premature neonates. Thirty-six neonates receiving TPN and theophylline concurrently were reviewed. Aminophylline was administered according to a standard protocol of 6 mg/kg loading dose, followed by a maintenance dose of 2.5-5 mg/kg every 12 h. Of the 36 neonates reviewed, 18 developed cholestasis (direct bilirubin greater than or equal to 1 mg/100 ml and direct bilirubin greater than or equal to 60% of total bilirubin). The remaining 18 did not develop cholestasis. The two groups were closely matched for gestational age, 5-min apgar score, and sex. The neonates with cholestasis had a mean maximum direct bilirubin of 5.19 mg/100 ml (range 1-13.8 mg/100 ml) as compared to the patients without cholestasis who had a mean maximum direct bilirubin of 0.54 mg/100 ml (range 0.3-0.8 mg/100 ml). Steady-state theophylline clearance was determined at least once a week for at least 4 separate weeks. The study lasted a minimum of 8 weeks, and if more than one theophylline clearance was determined in any given week, the mean of these clearances was used. Both groups demonstrated a significant increase in mean theophylline clearance over time (from 16.09 and 18.60 ml/h/kg to 28.65 and 24.73 ml/h/kg for the cholestatic and noncholestatic groups, respectively). The mean slope, an indicator of the average rate of change of theophylline clearance, was 1.4 for the noncholestatic group and 2.5 for the cholestatic group, indicating that the theophylline clearance for neonates with cholestasis was not significantly different from that for neonates with normal liver function (p = 0.61) over time.

Bilirubin↗

Improving patient outcomes in an ambulatory infusion setting: decreasing infusion reactions of patients receiving paclitaxel and carboplatin.

Nurses working in the outpatient ambulatory setting treat patients with multiple infusion drug regimens. Patients can have allergic reactions to infusions ranging from very mild to life-threatening. The reaction and the subsequent treatment measures can be very disconcerting to the patients and to the visitors in the infusion area. The nursing team described in this article took a proactive approach to minimize infusion reactions in the authors' facility, thereby ensuring the safety of other patients. Staff members examined the performance improvement data, conducted a retrospective study, and collaborated with the primary physician providers to develop rechallenge protocols for patients receiving paclitaxel and carboplatin regimens.

Ambulatory Care↗

Clinical Risk Groups (CRGs): a classification system for risk-adjusted capitation-based payment and health care management.

OBJECTIVE: To develop Clinical Risk Groups (CRGs), a claims-based classification system for risk adjustment that assigns each individual to a single mutually exclusive risk group based on historical clinical and demographic characteristics to predict future use of healthcare resources. STUDY DESIGN/DATA SOURCES: We developed CRGs through a highly iterative process of extensive clinical hypothesis generation followed by evaluation and verification with computerized claims-based databases containing inpatient and ambulatory information from 3 sources: a 5% sample of Medicare enrollees for years 1991-1994, a privately insured population enrolled during the same time period, and a Medicaid population with 2 years of data. RESULTS: We created a system of 269 hierarchically ranked, mutually exclusive base-risk groups (Base CRGs) based on the presence of chronic diseases and combinations of chronic diseases. We subdivided Base CRGs by levels of severity of illness to yield a total of 1075 groups. We evaluated the predictive performance of the full CRG model with R2 calculations and obtained values of 11.88 for a Medicare validation data set without adjusting predicted payments for persons who died in the prediction year, and 10.88 with a death adjustment. A concurrent analysis, using diagnostic information from the same year as expenditures, yielded an R2 of 42.75 for 1994. CONCLUSION: CRGs performance is comparable to other risk adjustment systems. CRGs have the potential to provide risk adjustment for capitated payment systems and management systems that support care pathways and case management.

Capitation Fee↗

Can mandatory pretransfusion approval programmes be improved?

To improve the appropriateness of blood-component prescribing, a mandatory haematologist pretransfusion approval programme of all non-red-cell components was instituted. This was associated with a 33% decrease in the units of fresh frozen plama (FFP) transfused. Platelet transfusions increased but utilization of both platelets and FFP are now the lowest of the six comparable blood transfusion regions in New Zealand. A subsequent concurrent audit, using preset criteria, of FFP, cryoprecipitate and platelet usage over a 3-month period showed that further reductions in blood component usage could still be achieved, despite the continuing pretransfusion approval policy. This audit showed that 33% of FFP and 30% of cryoprecipitate units transfused were inappropriately given, despite prior haematologist approval. Hospital transfusion practices can be improved by mandatory blood-component pretransfusion approval but concurrent auditing of this programme is required to identify and correct continuing inappropriate blood-component prescribing. Haematologists need to agree on blood-component indications prior to instituting a pretransfusion approval programme in order to provide optimal management.

Blood Banks↗

Psychiatric UR worksheet.

This worksheet was developed in response to an ever increasing number and intensity of admission and concurrent telephone reviews conducted by third and fourth-party payors. This worksheet was developed as an aid in information gathering for subsequent telephone and other reviews. The left-margin headings evolved from queries for information from the most demanding psychiatric nurse reviewers. When I have fully addressed all the information in my review, it is usually no problem in obtaining certification for admission or continued stay for the patient.

Alcoholism↗