Patient and nurse staffing characteristics associated with high sitter use costs.

AIM: This paper is a report of a study of the relationships between patient health conditions, nurse staffing characteristics and high sitter use costs. BACKGROUND: Increasing recourse to patient sitters is a major cost concern to hospitals. To reduce these expenses, we need to understand better the factors associated with high sitter use costs. METHODS: From a cohort of 43,212 medical/surgical patients admitted to an academic health centre in Montreal (Canada) in 2007 and 2008, all 1151 patients who received a sitter were selected. We applied multivariate logistic regression, using the Generalized Estimating Equation framework, to estimate the relationships between patient health conditions, nurse staffing characteristics and being in the upper two quintiles of sitter costs, vs. the lower three. RESULTS: The median sitter cost per patient, in Canadian dollars, was $772·35 (IQR = $1737·84); and $2397·00 (IQR = $3085·03) among the patients with high sitter use costs. In multivariate analyses, dementia, delirium and other cognitive impairments (OR = 1·49; 95% CI = 1·01-2·22) and schizophrenia and other psychoses (OR = 2·42; 95% CI = 1·08-5·76) increased the likelihood of high sitter use costs. In addition, every additional worked hour per patient per day by Registered Nurses (OR =0·33; 95% CI = 0·27-0·39) and by patient care assistants (OR = 0·11; 95% CI = 0·08-0·15) reduced the likelihood of high sitter use costs. Conclusion. Circumstances of understaffing and patients having psycho-geriatric conditions are associated with high sitter use costs. Improving staffing and providing additional resources to support the care of psycho-geriatric patients may lower these expenses.

Non-participation bias in health services reseach using data from an integrated electronic prescribing project: the role of informed consent / Sego por falta de participación en la investigación de los servicios de salud al usar datos de un proyecto integrado de prescripción electrónica: el papel del consentimiento informado / Sesgo pela falta de participação na pesquisa dos serviços de saúde ao usar dados de um projeto integrado de prescrição eletrônica: o papel do consentimento informado

Electronic prescribing potentially reduces adverse outcomes and provides critical information for drug safety research but studies may be distorted by non-participation bias. 52,507 patients and 28 physicians were evaluated to determine characteristics associated with consent status in an electronic prescribing project. Physicians with less technology proficiency, seeing more patients, and having patients with higher fragmentation of care were less likely to obtain consent. Older patients with complex health status, higher income, and more visits to the study physician were more likely to consent. These systematic differences could result in significant non-participation bias for research conducted only with consenting patients.

La prescripción electrónica reduce, potencialmente, los resultados adversos. y proporciona información crítica para una investigación segura en drogas, pero los estudios pueden ser distorsionados por un sesgo por falta de participación. Se evaluó a 52.505 pacientes y a 28 médicos para determinar características asociadas con el estatus del consentimiento en un proyecto de prescripción electrónica. Los médicos con menor eficiencia tecnológica, con más cantidad de pacientes que, además, mostraban mayor fragmentación en su atención, presentaban menor opción de obtener consentimiento. Los pacientes de más edad, con estatus de salud complejo, mayor ingreso y con más visitas al médico a cargo, manifestaban mayor disposición a consentir. Estas diferencias sistemáticas podrían desembocar en un sesgo significativo por falta de participación en la investigación llevada a cabo sólo con pacientes con consentimiento.

A prescrição eletrônica reduz potencialmente os resultados adversos e proporciona informação crítica para uma pesquisa segura em drogas, porém os estudos podem ser destorcidos por um sesgo por falta de participação. Avaliou-se 52.505 pacientes e a 28 médicos para determinar características associadas com o estatus do consentimento num projeto de prescrição eletrônica. Os médicos com menor eficiência tecnológica, com mais quantidade de pacientes que os outros, mostravam maior fragmentação em sua atenção, apresentavam menos opção para conseguir o consentimento. Os pacientes mais idosos, com estudos de saúde maiôs complexos, maiores salários e com mais visitas ao médico, manifestavam maior disposição de consentir. Estas diferenças sistemáticas poderiam desembocar num erro significativo por falta de participação na pesquisa levada a cabo somente com pacientes que consentiram.

Validation of diagnostic codes within medical services claims.

OBJECTIVES: Few studies have attempted to validate the diagnostic information contained within medical service claims data, and only a small proportion of these have attempted to do so using the medical chart as a gold standard. The goal of this study is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of medical services claims diagnoses for surveillance of 14 drug disease contraindications used in drug utilization review, the Charlson comorbidity index and the Johns Hopkins Adjusted Care Group Case-Mix profile (ADGs). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Diagnoses were abstracted from the medical charts of 14,980 patients, and were used as the "gold standard," against which diagnoses obtained from the administrative database for the same patients were compared. RESULTS: Conditions associated with drug disease contraindications with the exception of hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) showed a specificity of 90% or higher. Sensitivity of claims data was substantially lower, with glaucoma, hypertension, and diabetes being the most sensitive conditions at 76, 69, and 64%, respectively. Each of the 18 disease conditions contained in the Charlson comorbidity index showed high specificity, but sensitivity was more variable among conditions as well as by coding definitions. Although ADG specificity was also high, the vast majority of ADGs had sensitivities of less than 60%. CONCLUSION: The administrative data was found to have diagnoses and conditions that were highly specific but that vary greatly by condition in terms of sensitivity. To appropriately obtain diagnostic profiles, it is recommended that data pertaining to all physician billings be used.