Health problems and violence experiences of nurses working in acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, and home-based long-term care in Germany: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Working in the nursing sector is accompanied by great physical and mental health burdens. Consequently, it is necessary to develop target-oriented, sustainable profession-specific support and health promotion measures for nurses. OBJECTIVES: The present review aims to give an overview of existing major health problems and violence experiences of nurses in different settings (acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, and home-based long-term care) in Germany. METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed and PubPsych and completed by a manual search upon included studies' references and health insurance reports. Articles were included if they had been published after 2010 and provided data on health problems or violence experiences of nurses in at least one care setting. RESULTS: A total of 29 studies providing data on nurses health problems and/or violence experience were included. Of these, five studies allowed for direct comparison of nurses in the settings. In addition, 14 studies provided data on nursing working in acute care hospitals, ten on nurses working in long-term care facilities, and four studies on home-based long-term care. The studies either conducted a setting-specific approach or provided subgroup data from setting-unspecific studies. The remaining studies did not allow setting-related differentiation of the results. The available results indicate that mental health problems are the highest for nurses in acute care hospitals. Regarding violence experience, nurses working in long-term care facilities appear to be most frequently affected. CONCLUSION: The state of research on setting-specific differences of nurses' health problems and violence experiences is insufficient. Setting-specific data are necessesary to develop target-group specific and feasible interventions to support the nurses' health and prevention of violence, as well as dealing with violence experiences of nurses.

Differential Index-Hospitalization Cost Center Impact of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Program Implementation.

BACKGROUND: Most hospitals in the United States are reimbursed for colectomy via a bundled payment based on the diagnosis-related group assigned. Enhanced recovery after surgery programs have been shown to improve the value of colorectal surgery, but little is known about the granular financial tradeoffs required at individual hospitals. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to analyze the index-hospitalization impact on specific cost centers associated with enhanced recovery after surgery implementation for diagnosis-related groups commonly assigned to patients undergoing colon resections. DESIGN: We performed a single-institution retrospective, nonrandomized, preintervention (2013-2014) and postintervention (2015-2017) analysis of hospital costs. SETTING: This study was conducted at an academic medical center. PATIENTS: A total of 1297 patients with diagnosis-related group 330 (colectomy with complications/comorbidities) and 331 (colectomy without complications/comorbidities) were selected. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was total index-hospitalization cost. Secondary outcomes included specific cost center expenses. RESULTS: Total median cost for diagnosis-related group 330 in the pre-enhanced recovery after surgery group was $24,111 ($19,285-$28,658) compared to $21,896 ($17,477-$29,179) in the enhanced recovery after surgery group, p = 0.01. Total median cost for diagnosis-related group 331 in the pre-enhanced recovery after surgery group was $19,268 ($17,286-$21,858) compared to $18,444 ($15,506-$22,847) in the enhanced recovery after surgery group, p = 0.22. When assessing cost changes after enhanced recovery after surgery implementation for diagnosis-related group 330, operating room costs increased (p = 0.90), nursing costs decreased (p = 0.02), anesthesia costs increased (p = 0.20), and pharmacy costs increased (p = 0.08). For diagnosis-related group 331, operating room costs increased (p = 0.001), nursing costs decreased (p < 0.001), anesthesia costs increased (p = 0.03), and pharmacy costs increased (p = 0.001). LIMITATIONS: This is a single-center study with a pre- and postintervention design. CONCLUSIONS: The returns on investment at the hospital level for enhanced recovery after surgery implementations in colorectal surgery result largely from cost savings associated with decreased nursing expenses. These savings likely offset increased spending on operating room supplies, anesthesia, and medications. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/B204. IMPACTO DE LA IMPLEMENTACIÓN DEL PROTOCOLO DE RECUPERACIÓN MEJORADA DESPUÉS DE CIRUGÍA EN EL COSTO DE LA HOSPITALIZACIÓN ÍNDICE EN CENTROS ESPECÍFICOS: La mayoría de los hospitales en los Estados Unidos son reembolsados por la colectomía a través de un paquete de pago basado en el grupo de diagnóstico asignado. Se ha demostrado que los programas de recuperación después de la cirugía mejoran el valor de la cirugía colorrectal, pero se sabe poco sobre las compensaciones financieras granulares que se requieren en los hospitales individuales.El objetivo de este estudio es analizar el impacto del índice de hospitalización en centros de costos específicos asociados con la implementación de RMDC para grupos relacionados con el diagnóstico comúnmente asignados a pacientes que se someten a resecciones de colon.Realizamos un análisis retrospectivo, no aleatorio, previo (2013-2014) y posterior a la intervención (2015-2017) de los costos hospitalarios de una sola institución.Centro médico académico.Un total de 1. 297 pacientes con diagnóstico relacionado con el grupo 330 (colectomía con complicaciones/comorbilidades) y 331 (colectomía sin complicaciones/comorbilidades).El resultado primario fue el índice total de costos de hospitalización. Los resultados secundarios incluyeron gastos específicos del centro de costos.El costo medio total para el grupo relacionado con el diagnóstico de 330 en el grupo de recuperación pre-mejorada después de la cirugía fue de $24,111 ($19,285- $28,658) en comparación con $21,896 ($17,477- $29,179) en el grupo de recuperación mejorada después de la cirugía, p = 0.01. El costo medio total para DRG 331 en el grupo de recuperación pre-mejorada después de la cirugía fue de $19,268 ($17,286- $21,858) en comparación con $18,444 ($15,506-$22,847) en el grupo de recuperación mejorada después de la cirugía, p = 0.22. Al evaluar los cambios en los costos después de una recuperación mejorada después de la implementación de la cirugía para el grupo 330 relacionado con el diagnóstico, los costos de la sala de operaciones aumentaron (p = 0.90), los costos de enfermería disminuyeron (p = 0.02) los costos de anestesia aumentaron (p = 0.20) y los costos de farmacia aumentaron (p = 0.08). Para el grupo 331 relacionado con el diagnóstico, los costos de la sala de operaciones aumentaron (p = 0.001), los costos de enfermería disminuyeron (p < 0.001) los costos de anestesia aumentaron (p = 0.03) y los costos de farmacia aumentaron (p = 0.001).Este es un estudio de un solo centro con un diseño previo y posterior a la intervención.El retorno de la inversión a nivel hospitalario para una recuperación mejorada después de la implementación de la cirugía en la cirugía colorrectal se debe en gran parte al ahorro de costos asociado con la disminución de los gastos de enfermería. Es probable que estos ahorros compensen el aumento de los gastos en suministros de quirófano, anestesia y medicamentos. Consulte Video Resumen en http://links.lww.com/DCR/B204. (Traducción-Dr. Gonzalo Hagerman).

Hidden Costs in Paediatric Psychiatry Consultation Liaison Services.

AIM: Children with acute mental health (MH) concerns increasingly present to Emergency Departments, and in the absence of an accessible MH bed, are admitted. This study estimated the hidden associated costs. METHODS: All Emergency MH admissions over a 12-month period (2016) were identified (N=105). Costs associated with length of stay (LOS) and one-to-one nursing were calculated. RESULTS: The average Length of Stay for acute MH presentations was 6 days, there were 615 bed day associated with this cohort, totalling costs of €1,216,470, with an average cost/patient of €12,684. Sixty-eight patients (65%) required an average of 5 days of one-to-one nursing, totalling 335 days. Estimating that 40% of this was provided by agency staff, the hospital cost was €115,374. Taken together, the costs associated with primary Emergency Mental Health presentations is €1,331,844. Costs associated with patients who were previously known to MH services were €843,417. DISCUSSION: Despite an increasing number of dedicated MH beds, demand outweighs availability, and immediate access remains problematic, the default often being a paediatric admission. Adequate funding and appropriate use of these scare and costly resources must be part of national MH policy planning, especially with ongoing planning for the National Children's Hospital.

Increased care demand and medical costs after falls in nursing homes: A Delphi study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: To estimate the increased care demand and medical costs caused by falls in nursing homes. BACKGROUND: There is compelling evidence that falls in nursing homes are preventable. However, proper implementation of evidence-based guidelines to prevent falls is often hindered by insufficient management support, staff time and funding. DESIGN: A three-round Delphi study. METHODS: A panel of 41 experts, all working in nursing homes in the Netherlands, received three online questionnaires to estimate the extra hours of care needed during the first year after the fall. This was estimated for ten falls categories with different levels of injury severity, in three scenarios, that is a best-case, a typical-case and a worst-case scenario. We calculated the costs of falls by multiplying the mean amount of extra hours that the participants spent on the care for a resident after a fall with their hourly wages. RESULTS: In case of a noninjurious fall, the extra time spent on the faller is on average almost 5 hr, expressed in euros that add to € 193. The extra staff time and costs of falls increased with increasing severity of injury. In the case of a fracture of the lower limb, the extra staff time increased to 132 hr, expressed in euros that is € 4,604. In the worst-case scenario of a fracture of the lower limb, the extra staff time increased to 284 hr, expressed in euros that is € 10,170. CONCLUSIONS: Falls in nursing homes result in a great deal of extra staff time spent on care, with extra costs varying between € 193 for a noninjurious fall and € 10,170 for serious falls. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This study could aid decision-making on investing in appropriate implementation of falls prevention interventions in nursing homes.

Measuring Nursing Value from the Electronic Health Record.

We report the findings of a big data nursing value expert group made up of 14 members of the nursing informatics, leadership, academic and research communities within the United States tasked with 1. Defining nursing value, 2. Developing a common data model and metrics for nursing care value, and 3. Developing nursing business intelligence tools using the nursing value data set. This work is a component of the Big Data and Nursing Knowledge Development conference series sponsored by the University Of Minnesota School Of Nursing. The panel met by conference calls for fourteen 1.5 hour sessions for a total of 21 total hours of interaction from August 2014 through May 2015. Primary deliverables from the bit data expert group were: development and publication of definitions and metrics for nursing value; construction of a common data model to extract key data from electronic health records; and measures of nursing costs and finance to provide a basis for developing nursing business intelligence and analysis systems.

The Relationship Between Nursing Workload, Quality of Care and Nursing Payment in Intensive Care Units.

Nursing workload adversely affects patient safety in intensive care units, the higher nursing care hours were lower incidence rate of bedsores.

Telemonitoring of CPAP therapy may save nursing time.

PURPOSE: Telemonitoring might enhance continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) adherence and save nursing time at the commencement of CPAP therapy. We tested wireless telemonitoring (ResTraxx Online System®, ResMed) during the habituation phase of the CPAP therapy in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). METHODS: In total, 111 consecutive OSAS patients were enrolled. After CPAP titration, patients were followed with the telemonitoring (TM, N = 50) or the usual care (UC, N = 61). The TM group used fixed pressure CPAP device with and the UC group similar device without wireless telemonitoring. Patients and study nurses were unblinded. The evaluated end-points were hours of CPAP use >4 h/day, mask leak <0.4 L/s, and AHI <5/h. Nursing time including extra phone calls, visits, and telemonitoring time was recorded during the habituation phase. CPAP adherence was controlled in the beginning and at the end of the habituation phase and after 1-year of use. RESULTS: TM and UC groups did not differ in terms of patient characteristics. The average length of the habituation phase was 4 weeks in the TM group and fixed 3 months in the UC group. Median nursing time was 39 min (range 12-132 min) in the TM group and shorter compared to that of 58 min (range 40-180 min) (p < 0.001) per patient in the UC group. Both treatment groups had high CPAP usage hours (>4 h/day) and the change in usage at the end of the habituation phase did not differ between the groups (p = 0.39). Patients in both groups were equally satisfied with the treatment protocol. CPAP adherence (6.4 h in TM vs. 6.1 h in UC group, p = 0.63) and residual AHI (1.3 in TM vs. 3.2 in UC group, p = 0.04) were good in both groups at 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Wireless telemonitoring of CPAP treatment could be relevant in closing the gap between the increasing demand and available health-care resources. It may save nursing time without compromising short- or long-term effectiveness of CPAP treatment in OSAS.

Nurses and the Ethics of Big Data.

As we move toward a value-based health care system and payment models based on individual performance of providers, nurses are faced with a dilemma. Should we as a profession actively pursue the development of individual nurse performance metrics, analysis, benchmarks, and practice standards, similar to those being implemented for physicians? Or should we wait until these metrics are imposed by payers and policymakers with little or no input from nurses?

A Trial of Nursing Cost Accounting using Nursing Practice Data on a Hospital Information System.

Hospital administration is very important and many hospitals carry out activity-based costing under comprehensive medicine. However, nursing cost is unclear, because nursing practice is expanding both quantitatively and qualitatively and it is difficult to grasp all nursing practices, and nursing cost is calculated in many cases comprehensively. On the other hand, a nursing information system (NIS) is implemented in many hospitals in Japan and we are beginning to get nursing practical data. In this paper, we propose a nursing cost accounting model and we simulate a cost by nursing contribution using NIS data.

[Nursing minimum data sets (NMDS) - a literature review relating to objective and data elements]. / Nursing Minimum Data Sets (NMDS) - eine Literaturübersicht bezüglich Zielsetzungen und Datenelementen.

BACKGROUND: In order to be able to follow the predicted changes in healthcare systems, there has long been a need for a unified database that could transparently compare nursing care data from different service providers. In Austria, a recommendation has been lacking thus far as to which nursing care data need to be documented as "basic data", and as a result of this, comparisons of nursing care data on a national basis have been hindered. The international development of Nursing Minimum Data Sets (NMDS) has demonstrated that nursing care data can be sufficiently compared. AIM: The aim of the systematic literature review is to raise the current level of knowledge regarding NMDS and to develop a structured description of NMDS which, above all else, can document the recorded data elements and the associated objectives with the use of NMDS. RESULTS: A total of seventy publications on the subject of NMDS were included in the literature overview. The analysis of the eight NMDS that were presented yielded six central objectives and six higher-level data elements. The identified objectives include: the description of the nursing care practice, distribution of the financial means, benchmarking, human resources planning, trend analyses, and quality assurance. The six data elements that were identified comprise operating data, demographic data, and the diagnoses, interventions, results (quality indicators), and intensity of nursing care (clinical data). DISCUSSION: What emerged was that no clear association is present between the objectives and the data elements of the minimum nursing care datasets that were studied.

Measuring direct nursing cost per patient in the acute care setting.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to measure the variability of direct nursing cost for similar patients and to examine the characteristics of nurses assigned to different types of patients. BACKGROUND: There is no standard method for measuring direct nursing cost by patient. METHODS: Deidentified data were collected from 3 databases for patients admitted from January 2010 through December 2012 on 1 medical/surgical unit in a large Magnet hospital. Direct nursing care time and costs were calculated from the nurse-patient assignment. RESULTS: Variability in nursing intensity (0.36-13 hours) and cost per patient day ($132-$1,455) was significant for similar patients. Higher cost nurses were not assigned sicker patients (F3, 3029 = 87.09, P < .001, R = 0.124). Mean (SD) nursing direct cost per day was $96.48 ($55.73). CONCLUSIONS: Standard measurement of nursing cost per patient could be benchmarked across hospitals and inform nursing administration care delivery decisions.

Challenges and a response strategy for the development of nursing in China: a descriptive and quantitative analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the challenges to and provide a response strategy for the development of nursing and make suggestions for promoting the nursing discipline, platform, and talent teams based on current best available evidence. METHODS: We searched CNKI(China National Knowledge Infrastructure), VIP information(Chinese Scientific Journals database), CBM(Chinese Biomedical Literature database), and Web sites of the World Health Organization, International Council of Nurses, World Bank, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education of China, and relevant schools in China. Data analyses were performed using SPSS 13.0. RESULTS: We identified 886 nursing schools in China in 2012. Results showed that 38,212 nursing students were enrolled in universities or independent colleges and 130,837 nursing student were enrolled in colleges or senior vocational schools. The doctor-to-nurse ratio was 1:0.9 in 2010. The actual demand for doctors was 2.6 million, whereas the nursing shortage was approximately 346,000. Nurses aged ≤ 35 years accounted for 50% of the total. A total of 64% to 69% of nurses had primary professional titles; fewer than 2.5% of those had advanced titles. The training costs for one doctor or one nurse in China was only two-fifths that in India and one-fifth to one-fourth that in sub-Saharan Africa. To date, only 30.1% of disaster nursing studies in China provided research data; 30.6% were related to clinical experience and 38.3% were reviews. CONCLUSIONS: Education and health systems need to be extensively reformed. It is necessary to train nursing students with core competencies using transformative learning. It is necessary to update textbooks and teaching methods, and funding should be appropriately increased. Nursing should co-operate with other disciplines, and apply evidence-based nursing methods to improve the quality of healthcare services and patient satisfaction.

Dificultades y oportunidades para la enfermería: una revisión narrativa sobre evaluación económica en salud / Difficulties and chances for nursing: a narrative review about the economic evaluation in health

Revisión narrativa sobre evaluación económica en salud que tuvo como objetivo identificar los estudios desarrollados sobre el tema en los últimos diez años. Fue utilizado el descriptor costo y análisis de costos en las bases de datos: LILACS, MEDLINE, IBECS y CAPES. Fueron encontradas 88 publicaciones y seleccionadas 65, de las cuales 44,62% pertenecían a la base LILACS, 44,62% a MEDLINE, 4,60% a IBECS y 6,16% a CAPES. 75,38% eran sobre evaluación parcial de costos y 24,62% sobre evaluación económica. La medicina fue la sub-área que más publicó (41,54%), considerando los dos tipos de metodologías; seguida por la enfermería, que solo publicó sobre evaluación parcial de costos (15,38%). El enfermero como herramienta administrativa dentro de la Institución de Salud, necesita buscar conocimientos sobre este segmento de la economía, reconociendo su papel como agente transformador y buscar el equilibrio entre calidad, cantidad y costos en el momento de decidir cómo distribuir los recursos financieros disponibles (AU)

It is a narrativre review about the economic evaluation in health which had as an objective to identify the developed studies about the topic in the last ten years. The expenses and cost analysis descriptors were used at the data bases: LILACS, MEDLINE, IBECS AND CAPES. 88 publications were found and 65 were selected, from which the 44’62% belonged to the database LILACS, the 44’62% to MEDLINE, 4’6% to IBECS and to CAPES. The 75’38% were about the partial assessment of expenses and the 24’62% about the economic assessment. The medicine was the sub-area that published (41’54%), considering the two types of methodologies; followed by the nursing, which only published about partial evaluation of expenses (15’38%). The nurse as an administrative tool in the Health Institution, needs to look for the knowledge about this segment of the economy, recognizying his role as a transformator agent and looking for the balance betewwen quality, quantity and expenses when deciding how to distribute the available financial resources (AU)

[Cost analysis of telemedical treatment of stroke]. / Kostenanalyse telemedizinischer Schlaganfallbehandlung.

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine-enabled stroke networks increase the probability of a good clinical outcome. There is a shortage of evidence about the effects of this new approach on costs for inpatient care and nursing care. METHODS: We analysed health insurance and nursing care fund data of a statutory health insurance company (AOK Bayern). Data from stroke patients initially treated in a TeleStroke network (TEMPiS - telemedical project for integrative stroke care) between community hospitals and academic stroke centres were compared to data of matched hospitals without specialised stroke care and telemedical support. Costs for nursing care were obtained over a 30-month period after the initial stroke. To rule out pre-existing differences between network and control hospitals, costs of stroke care were also analysed during a time period before network implementation. FINDINGS: 1 277 patients (767 in intervention, 510 in control hospitals) were analysed in the post-implementation period. An increased proportion of patients treated in intervention hospitals had a favourable outcome concerning the level of required nursing care. Patients in intervention hospitals had higher costs for acute inpatient care (5 309 € vs. 4 901 €, p=0.04), but lower nursing care fund costs (3 946 € vs. 5 132 €; p=0.04). There was no difference in relation to absolute total costs obtained in the post-implementation period. However, nursing care costs per survived year were significantly lower in intervention hospitals (1 953 € vs. 2 635 €; p=0.005). No significant differences were found in the pre-implementation period. CONCLUSIONS: Considering both health insurance and nursing care fund costs, the incremental costs for TeleStroke network care in hospitals are compensated by savings in outpatient care.

Bringing economics and quality together: imperatives for nurse executives: part two: what's making a difference at the bedside?

Balancing improved quality care with cost continues to be one of President Obama's health care reform mantras. In advocating that the health care industry borrow best practices from business, he points to innovations such as pay for performance (P4P). These plans, which reward hospitals and physicians, consistently overlook nursing. To be included, nursing needs to quickly quantify its contribution to care and the price tag of that care. Without that critical data, nursing will continue to be hidden inside "room and board" charges--making the profession invisible to payers, consumers, and decision makers who will be left on their own to determine our value.