Compassionate care in the community: reflections of a student nurse.

Reflecting on practice and analysing situations when compassionate care has been delivered can be a valuable way of helping student nurses develop their understanding of humanising care. This exemplar showcases a scenario when a second-year student nurse studying for a BSc (Honours) in adult nursing explored an experience while working in the community. She critically reflected on an incident highlighting a simple yet powerful example of how she helped an older couple manage an aspect of their care. This exercise helped the student to explore and understand what compassionate care means and highlighted how the value of reflection can be used to gain new insights to enhance the care of older people in her future practice in the community.

Outcomes for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction in hospitals with and without onsite coronary artery bypass graft surgery: the New York State experience.

BACKGROUND: The benefit of primary percutaneous coronary interventions (P-PCI) for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) has been well documented. However, controversy still exists as to whether PCI should be expanded to hospitals without coronary artery bypass graft surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients who were discharged after PCI for STEMI between January 1, 2003, and December 12, 2006, in P-PCI centers (hospitals with no coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and PCI only for patients with STEMI) were propensity matched with patients in full service centers, and mortality and subsequent revascularization rates were compared. For patients undergoing PCI, there were no differences for in-hospital/30-day mortality (2.3% for P-PCI centers versus 1.9% for full service centers [P=0.40]), emergency coronary artery bypass graft surgery immediately after PCI (0.06% versus 0.35%, P=0.06), 3-year mortality (7.1% versus 5.9%, P=0.07), or 3-year subsequent revascularization (23.8% versus 21.5%, P=0.52). P-PCI centers had a lower same/next day coronary artery bypass graft rate (0.23% versus 0.69%, P=0.046) and higher repeat target vessel PCI rates (12.1% versus 9.0%, P=0.003). For patients with STEMI who did not undergo PCI, P-PCI centers had higher in-hospital mortality (28.5% versus 22.3%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.10 to 1.75). CONCLUSIONS: No differences between P-PCI centers and full service centers were found in in-hospital/30-day mortality, the need for emergency surgery, 3-year mortality or subsequent revascularization, but P-PCI centers had higher repeat target vessel PCI rates and higher mortality rates for patients who did not undergo PCI. P-PCI centers should be monitored closely, including the monitoring of patients with STEMI who did not undergo PCI.

Provider profiling and quality improvement efforts in coronary artery bypass graft surgery: the effect on short-term mortality among Medicare beneficiaries.

CONTEXT: In the last decade, a few states or regions in the United States have initiated efforts to publicly disseminate coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery outcomes and/or formally initiate quality improvement programs for CABG surgery. OBJECTIVE: To compare CABG mortality rates and changes in CABG mortality rates in regions with quality improvement/public dissemination efforts with the remainder of the country. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Medicare data from 1994 to 1999 were used to develop a logistic regression model that predicts patient mortality for CABG surgery on the basis of preoperative patient risk factors and region of the country. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: In-hospital, 30-day, and in-hospital/30-day mortality adjusted for preoperative patient risk factors. RESULTS: Four of the 5 regions with quality improvement/public dissemination programs had significantly lower unadjusted in-hospital/30-day, in-hospital, and 30-day mortality than the remainder of the country. The odds ratio for risk-adjusted mortality for the 6-year period in all study regions combined was significantly lower (odds ratio [OR], 0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-0.85) than in the remainder of the United States. The odds ratio was also significantly lower for each year and for the 6-year time period in New York (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.57-0.77) and Pennsylvania (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.73-0.86). The change in risk-adjusted mortality between 1994 and 1999 remained essentially constant for all regions except New Jersey, the only region to initiate their program during the study period, which exhibited a significant reduction in risk-adjusted mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Public dissemination of outcomes data/formal region-wide quality improvement initiatives appear to be associated with lower risk-adjusted mortality rates for CABG surgery.