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Carotid endarterectomy in community practice: surgeon-specific versus institutional results.

The efficacy of carotid endarterectomy in preventing stroke is clearly related to appropriate patient selection and low surgical morbidity and mortality. It has been suggested that since results at some centers are better than nationwide statistics, perhaps the operation should be limited to those institutions. In this paper we present an experience with carotid endarterectomy over the past twelve years. These 566 consecutive cases were performed by two vascular surgeons in a large metropolitan area using thirteen different hospitals ranging from 150 to 500 beds. Our mortality of 0.5% and permanent stroke incidence of 1.6% did not vary significantly from hospital to hospital. Where the results of surgical audits were available from the individual hospitals, the overall complication rates were significantly higher. We conclude that individual surgeons, not institutions, determine the efficacy of carotid endarterectomy in community practice.

Adult↗

Establishing and administrating a private practice in a hospital setting.

This paper presents specific guidelines for establishing a private practice in an institution. Guidelines are discussed for structuring the practice, establishing the fee schedule, the billing procedures, proposals and contracts, general organization and administration, together with the expansion and termination of the practice for a client/institution.

Accounts Payable and Receivable↗

Tuberculosis surveillance practices in long-term care institutions.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the tuberculosis (TB) skin-testing practices of long-term care facilities for the elderly in Toronto, Ontario. DESIGN: A telephone survey using a 25-item questionnaire. SETTING: Twenty-nine nursing homes (NHs) and 26 Homes for the Aged (HFAs) in metropolitan Toronto. RESULTS: Thirty-one percent of facilities (17 of 55) had no formal tuberculin skin-testing program, including 52% of NHs (15 of 29) versus 8% of HFAs (2 of 26; P = 0.001). Ninety-two percent of HFAs (24 of 26), compared with 45% of NHs (13 of 29), obtained preadmission or admission skin-test status of residents (P = 0.0005). Annual testing was performed at 46% of HFAs (12 of 26) and 27% of NHs (8 of 29; P = 0.28). Of facilities that carried out any skin testing, 64% of HFAs (16 of 25) versus 32% of NHs (6 of 19) measured induration to establish test positivity (P = 0.068). Fifty-two percent of HFAs (13 of 25), compared with 21% of NHs (4 of 19), recorded the actual size of induration in the patient record (P = 0.085). Only 28% of HFAs (7 of 25) and 21% of NHs (4 of 19) correctly defined a positive tuberculin skin test. CONCLUSIONS: TB surveillance practices in long-term care institutions in Toronto are inadequate and often yield results that do not predict the risk of infection and cannot be used to investigate outbreaks. Tuberculin skin-testing practices were better at HFAs, which are subject to provincial legislation regarding TB surveillance, than at NHs, which are not subject to this legislation. Staff at HFAs and NHs require education regarding tuberculin skin-testing policies and procedures.

Homes for the Aged↗

Detecting and preventing the occurrence of errors in the practices of laboratory medicine and anatomic pathology: 15 years' experience with the College of American Pathologists' Q-PROBES and Q-TRACKS programs.

This review extracts those studies from the CAP Q-PROBES and Q-TRACKS programs that have benchmarked and monitored the occurrence of errors in the practices of laboratory medicine and anatomic pathology. The outcomes of these studies represent in aggregate the analysis of millions of data points collected in thousands of hospitals throughout the United States. Also presented in this review are hospital and laboratory practices associated with improved performance (ie, fewer errors). Only those associations that were shown to be statistically significant are presented. They represent only a small fraction of the practices examined in these studies. The reader is encouraged to peruse the Q-PROBES studies cited in the reference list to learn about the wide range of practices investigated. The institution of some of these practices for which the associated error reductions were not statistically significant might nonetheless improve performance in some environments. There is no way of knowing whether some better-performing institutions compensated for not employing presumably beneficial practices by applying other practices about which the studies' authors neglected to inquire. Nor is there any way of knowing whether institutions in which performance was poor employed presumably beneficial practices, but possessed operational flaws about which the studies' authors neglected to inquire. Certainly, hospitals operating in the bottom 10% of benchmarked performances would do well to investigate the possibility that some of these practices might reduce the incidence of errors in their institutions. From the results of these studies, there emerge two complementary strategies that appear to be associated with reduction of errors. Obviously, the first strategy involves doing what is necessary to prevent the occurrence of errors in the first place. Several tactics may accomplish this goal. Healthcare workers responsible for specific tasks must be properly educated and motivated to perform those tasks with as few errors as possible. There must be written policies and protocols detailing responsibilities and providing contingencies when those responsibilities are not met. The successful completion of required tasks must be documented, especially those tasks that are performed as requisite to others. In other words, it should be impossible to move on to subsequent operations in testing processes before documenting the successful completion of previous requisite operations. Finally, the opportunities for making errors must be reduced. Specifically, the number of steps in which specimens are delivered to laboratories, tests are performed, and results are disseminated to those who use them must be reduced as much as possible. The second strategy involves the assumption that despite our best efforts to prevent them, errors will occur. No matter how smart we are, no matter how careful we try to be, we will make mistakes. It is essential that systems designed to eliminate errors include elements of redundancy to catch those mistakes. Work must be checked and verified before therapeutic decisions are finalized. This is especially true when those decisions are irrevocable and the potential damage caused by errors cannot be undone. Ideally, systems that use redundancy should include provisions to shut down the testing process altogether when the successful execution of previous steps cannot be verified. Once error detection systems are established, service providers can gauge their performance by employing tools of continuous monitoring to assess the degree to which health care workers comply with required procedures, and with which services achieve their intended outcomes.

Diagnostic Errors↗

Management of impacted third molars among Nigerian dentists.

Seventy-five Nigerian dentists were interviewed on their approach to the management of impacted third molars. The mean age of the dentists was 34.8 years, with a male/female ratio of 3.4:1. Most of the female dentists were found in the training institutions (p = 0.005). More than half of the dentists (58.7%) practiced in institutions with dental schools (training institutions), majority preferred the buccal approach (92%), and all the dentists (100%) preferred third molar disimpaction under local analgesia. Most dentists (88%) prescribe antibiotics following third molar surgery. Fifty dentists (66.7%) routinely reviewed all patients postoperatively while 12 dentists (16%) were of the opinion that all impacted third molars should be extracted. Only 21 dentists (28%) were aware of any protocol on the management of impacted teeth. More dentists in the training institutions performed third molar surgery less frequently than dentists in other hospitals (p = 0.07) who tend to employ chisels/mallet for bone removal (p = 0.0004). The need for continuing education and the formulation of guidelines in order to assist dentists to make informed decisions is emphasised. This will help conserve scarce resources and enhance the operation of the newly introduced National Health Insurance Scheme.

Adult↗

Gender and professional identity in psychiatric nursing practice in Alberta, Canada, 1930-75.

This paper examines gender-specific transformations of nursing practice in institutional mental health-care in Alberta, Canada, based on archival records on two psychiatric hospitals, Alberta Hospital Ponoka and Alberta Hospital Edmonton, and on oral histories with psychiatric mental health nurses in Alberta. The paper explores class and gender as interrelated influences shaping the work and professional identity of psychiatric mental health nurses from the 1930s until the mid-1970s. Training schools for nurses in psychiatric hospitals emerged in Alberta in the 1930s under the influence of the mental hygiene movement, evolving quite differently for female nurses compared to untrained aides and male attendants. The latter group resisted their exclusion from the title 'nurse' and successfully helped to organize a separate association of psychiatric nurses in the 1950s. Post-World War II, reconstruction of health-care and a de-institutionalization policy further transformed nurses' practice in the institutions. Using social history methods of analysis, the paper demonstrates how nurses responded to their circumstances in complex ways, actively participating in the reconstruction of their practice and finding new ways of professional organization that fit the local context. After the Second World War more sophisticated therapeutic roles emerged and nurses engaged in new rehabilitative practices and group therapies, reconstructing their professional identities and transgressing gender boundaries. Nurses' own stories help us to understand the striving toward psychiatric nursing professionalism in the broader context of changing gender identities and work relationships, as well as shifting perspectives on psychiatric care.

Alberta↗

Family member presence during pediatric emergency department procedures.

OBJECTIVE: Exclusion of family members (FM) during pediatric procedures in the emergency department (ED) is an accepted practice. This study questions the validity of such a practice. SUBJECTS: FM of ED pediatric patients undergoing procedures and ED staff performing procedures. SITES: ED of a tertiary care university-affiliated community hospital and the pediatric ED of a university hospital. METHODS: Post-procedure surveys were obtained from FM remaining with their child during an ED procedure and from the ED personnel performing the procedures. FM activity during the procedure was also recorded. RESULTS: Ninety-six children (average age 20 months) underwent a total of 127 procedures. ED procedures included: vascular access 91, lumbar puncture 23, urethral catheterization 9, nasogastric tube placement 1, rapid sequence intubation 1, fluid resuscitation from shock 1, and removal of foreign body from eye 1. Three children were critically ill during performance of procedures. ED staff answered 98 surveys concerning the performance of the 127 procedures. FM ACTIVITIES INCLUDED: Stood at bedside 35 (31%), soothed child 21 (19%), and helped restrain child 55 (55%). In 55 (57%) cases the FM was the only adult present with the ED staff member performing the procedure(s). FM MEMBER OPINIONS OF PRESENCE DURING PROCEDURES WERE: Good idea 101 (91%), bad idea 6 (5%), and did not care 4 (4%). ED staff opinions were: good idea 92 (93%), bad idea 2 (2%), and did not care 4 (5%). FM presence made four (5%) members of the ED staff nervous. CONCLUSION: FM presence during ED procedures is a practice favored by both parents and ED staff at our institutions. This practice should not be limited to minimally invasive procedures in stable patients but should be considered for procedures such as lumbar punctures and intubations even in critically ill patients.

Adult↗

Traditional and emerging forms of dental practice. Cost, accessibility, and quality factors.

The traditional and predominant manner of delivering dental care is through a fee-for-service, private practice system. A number of alternative dental care delivery systems have emerged and are being tested, and others are just emerging. These systems include department store practices, hospital dental services, health maintenance organizations, the independent practice of dental hygiene, and denturism. Although it is too soon to draw final conclusions about the efficacy and effectiveness of these systems, we examine them for their potential to compete with and change the way dental care is currently delivered. Using the parameters of cost, accessibility, and quality, we compare these systems to traditional dental practice. Some of these emerging forms clearly have the potential to complete favorably with traditional practice. Other seem less likely to alter the existing system substantially. The system which can best control costs, increase accessibility, and enhance quality will gain the competitive edge.

Dentistry↗