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Variations exist in the surgical techniques used for caesarean section and many have not been rigorously assessed in randomised controlled trials. We aimed to assess whether any surgical techniques were associated with improved outcomes for women and babies. CORONIS was a pragmatic international 2×2×2×2×2 non-regular fractional, factorial, unmasked, randomised controlled trial that examined five elements of the caesarean section technique in intervention pairs. CORONIS was undertaken at 19 sites in Argentina, Chile, Ghana, India, Kenya, Pakistan, and Sudan. Each site was assigned to three of the five intervention pairs: blunt versus sharp abdominal entry; exteriorisation of the uterus for repair versus intra-abdominal repair; single-layer versus double-layer closure of the uterus; closure versus non-closure of the peritoneum (pelvic and parietal); and chromic catgut versus polyglactin-910 for uterine repair. Pregnant women were eligible if they were to undergo their first or second caesarean section through a planned transverse abdominal incision. Women were randomly assigned by a secure web-based number allocation system to one intervention from each of the three assigned pairs. All investigators, surgeons, and participants were unmasked to treatment allocation. The primary outcome was the composite of death, maternal infectious morbidity, further operative procedures, or blood transfusion (>1 unit) up to the 6-week follow-up visit. Women were analysed in the groups into which they were allocated. The CORONIS Trial is registered with Current Controlled Trials: ISRCTN31089967. Between May 20, 2007, and Dec 31, 2010, 15 935 women were recruited. There were no statistically significant differences within any of the intervention pairs for the primary outcome: blunt versus sharp entry risk ratio 1·03 (95% CI 0·91–1·17), exterior versus intra-abdominal repair 0·96 (0·84–1·08), single-layer versus double-layer closure 0·96 (0·85–1·08), closure versus non-closure 1·06 (0·94–1·20), and chromic catgut versus polyglactin-910 0·90 (0·78–1·04). 144 serious adverse events were reported, of which 26 were possibly related to the intervention. Most of the reported serious adverse events were known complications of surgery or complications of the reasons for the caesarean section. These findings suggest that any of these surgical techniques is acceptable. However, longer-term follow-up is needed to assess whether the absence of evidence of short-term effects will translate into an absence of long-term effects. UK Medical Research Council and WHO.

Objectives To test the effectiveness of a comprehensive team-based intervention to improve human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination completion rates and reduce missed opportunities to vaccinate in rural Oregon. Design Stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial. Participants Forty family physicians and pediatricians who are members of the Oregon Rural Practice-based Research Network. Intervention Tailored to individual practice needs, components will include (1) practice facilitation with clinicians, nurses, front office staff, and others who have patient contact to redesign patient care and communication strategies to optimize HPV vaccine series completion; (2) workflow mapping adapted to practice context to support HPV vaccine delivery; (3) a practice improvement model designed to firmly establish reminder and recall systems and then standing orders; (4) education for patients and parents that underscores HPV vaccination is safe, effective, and an important approach for reducing cancer risk; and (5) partnering with community organizations to plan and implement a social marketing campaign on HPV vaccination. Main outcome measures Initiation and completion of the HPV vaccine series as well as reduction in rates of missed opportunities to vaccinate derived from Oregon Immunization Program data. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.govPRS, NCT03604393 : .Trial was registered on July 11, 2018. The first participant was enrolled on September 11, 2018.

Background Despite expanding international commitment to community health worker (CHW) deployment, little is known about how such workers actually use their time. This paper investigates this issue for paid CHWs named “Community Health Agents,” which in Swahili is “ Wawezeshaji wa Afya ya Jamii” (“ WAJA ”), trained for 9 months in primary health care service delivery and deployed to villages as subjects of a randomized trial of their impact on childhood survival in three rural districts of Tanzania. Methods To capture information about time allocation, 30 WAJA were observed during conventional working hours by research assistants for 5 days each over a period of 4 weeks. Results were presented in term of percentage time allocation for direct client treatment, documentation activities, health education, health promotion non-work-related activities and personal activities. Results During routine 8-h workdays, 59.5 % of WAJA time was spent on the provision of health services and other work-related activities. Overall, WAJA spent 27.8 % of their work on traveling from home to home, 33.1 % on health education, 9.9 % of health promotion and only 12.3 % on direct patient care. Other activities related to documentation (7.8 %) and supervision (2.5 %). Conclusions Results reflect the pressing obligations of WAJA to engage in activities other than direct work responsibilities during routine work hours. Time spent on work activities is primarily used for health education, promotion, moving between households, and direct patient care. However, greater effort should be directed to strengthening supervisory systems and follow-up of challenges WAJAs facing in order to increase proportion of working hours.

Abstract Objective: To compare the cost effectiveness of general practitioners and nurse practitioners as first point of contact in primary care. Design: Multicentre randomised controlled trial of patients requesting an appointment the same day. Setting: 20 general practices in England and Wales. Participants: 1716 patients were eligible for randomisation, of whom 1316 agreed to randomisation and 1303 subsequently attended the clinic. Data were available for analysis on 1292 patients (651 general practitioner consultations and 641 nurse practitioner consultations). Main outcome measures: Consultation process (length of consultation, examinations, prescriptions, referrals), patient satisfaction, health status, return clinic visits over two weeks, and costs. Results: Nurse practitioner consultations were significantly longer than those of the general practitioners (11.57 v 7.28 min; adjusted difference 4.20, 95% confidence interval 2.98 to 5.41), and nurses carried out more tests (8.7% v 5.6% of patients; odds ratio 1.66, 95% confidence interval 1.04 to 2.66) and asked patients to return more often (37.2% v 24.8%; 1.93, 1.36 to 2.73). There was no significant difference in patterns of prescribing or health status outcome for the two groups. Patients were more satisfied with nurse practitioner consultations (mean score 4.40 v 4.24 for general practitioners; adjusted difference 0.18, 0.092 to 0.257). This difference remained after consultation length was controlled for. There was no significant difference in health service costs (nurse practitioner £18.11 v general practitioner £20.70; adjusted difference £2.33, −£1.62 to £6.28). Conclusions: The clinical care and health service costs of nurse practitioners and general practitioners were similar. If nurse practitioners were able to maintain the benefits while reducing their return consultation rate or shortening consultation times, they could be more cost effective than general practitioners.

Background Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common preventable cause of mortality in hospitalized medical patients. Despite rigorous randomized trials generating strong recommendations for anticoagulant use to prevent VTE, nearly 40% of medical patients receive inappropriate thromboprophylaxis. Knowledge-translation strategies are needed to bridge this gap. Methods We conducted a 16-week pilot cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) to determine the proportion of medical patients that were appropriately managed for thromboprophylaxis (according to the American College of Chest Physician guidelines) within 24 hours of admission, through the use of a multicomponent knowledge-translation intervention. Our primary goal was to determine the feasibility of conducting this study on a larger scale. The intervention comprised clinician education, a paper-based VTE risk assessment algorithm, printed physicians’ orders, and audit and feedback sessions. Medical wards at six hospitals (representing clusters) in Ontario, Canada were included; three were randomized to the multicomponent intervention and three to usual care ( i.e. , no active strategies for thromboprophylaxis in place). Blinding was not used. Results A total of 2,611 patients (1,154 in the intervention and 1,457 in the control group) were eligible and included in the analysis. This multicomponent intervention did not lead to a significant difference in appropriate VTE prophylaxis rates between intervention and control hospitals (appropriate management rate odds ratio = 0.80; 95% confidence interval: 0.50, 1.28; p = 0.36; intra-class correlation coefficient: 0.022), and thus was not considered feasible. Major barriers to effective knowledge translation were poor attendance by clinical staff at education and feedback sessions, difficulty locating preprinted orders, and lack of involvement by clinical and administrative leaders . We identified several factors that may increase uptake of a VTE prophylaxis strategy, including local champions, support from clinical and administrative leaders, mandatory use, and a simple, clinically relevant risk assessment tool. Conclusions Hospitals allocated to our multicomponent intervention did not have a higher rate of medical inpatients appropriately managed for thromboprophylaxis than did hospitals that were not allocated to this strategy.

Objective To test the hypothesis that the proportion of endotracheal intubation (ETI) in the delivery room (DR) decreased in Neonatal Research Network (NRN) centres after the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development NRN Surfactant, Positive Pressure, and Oxygenation Randomised Trial (SUPPORT). Design Retrospective cohort study using the prospective NRN generic database. Setting Eleven centres that participated in the SUPPORT trial and remained part of the NRN. Preterm neonates 240/7–276/7 weeks’ gestational age enrolled in the SUPPORT trial were randomised to: (1) DR continuous positive airway pressure or DR ETI with early surfactant administration; and (2) oxygen saturation targets of 85–89% or 91–95%. The prior NRN feasibility trial had assessed the feasibility of randomisation to continuous positive airway pressure versus ETI. Patients Infants 240/7–276/7 weeks’ gestational age, excluding infants with syndromes or major malformations and those on comfort care only. Main outcome measure Proportion of DR ETI. Results The proportion of DR ETI decreased significantly in the group of infants from centres that had not participated in the feasibility trial (91% before vs 75% after SUPPORT, adjusted relative risk 0.86, 95% CI 0.83–0.89, p<0.0001) but not in the group of infants from the other centres, where the proportion of ETI was already lower prior to initiation of the SUPPORT trial (61% before vs 58% after SUPPORT, adjusted relative risk 0.96, 95% CI 0.89 to 1.05, p=0.40). Conclusion This study shows that DR ETI changed after SUPPORT only in NRN centres that had not participated in a similar trial. Trial registration number NCT00063063 (GDB) and NCT00233324 (SUPPORT).

Hospitals can leverage their position between the ultimate buyers and sellers of drugs to retain a substantial share of insurer pharmaceutical expenditures. In this study, we used 2020-2021 national Blue Cross Blue Shield claims data regarding patients in the United States who had drug-infusion visits for oncologic conditions, inflammatory conditions, or blood-cell deficiency disorders. Markups of the reimbursement prices were measured in terms of amounts paid by Blue Cross Blue Shield plans to hospitals and physician practices relative to the amounts paid by these providers to drug manufacturers. Acquisition-price reductions in hospital payments to drug manufacturers were measured in terms of discounts under the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program. We estimated the percentage of Blue Cross Blue Shield drug spending that was received by drug manufacturers and the percentage retained by provider organizations. The study included 404,443 patients in the United States who had 4,727,189 drug-infusion visits. The median price markup (defined as the ratio of the reimbursement price to the acquisition price) for hospitals eligible for 340B discounts was 3.08 (interquartile range, 1.87 to 6.38). After adjustment for drug, patient, and geographic factors, price markups at hospitals eligible for 340B discounts were 6.59 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.02 to 7.16) as high as those in independent physician practices, and price markups at noneligible hospitals were 4.34 times (95% CI, 3.77 to 4.90) as high as those in physician practices. Hospitals eligible for 340B discounts retained 64.3% of insurer drug expenditures, whereas hospitals not eligible for 340B discounts retained 44.8% and independent physician practices retained 19.1%. This study showed that hospitals imposed large price markups and retained a substantial share of total insurer spending on physician-administered drugs for patients with private insurance. The effects were especially large for hospitals eligible for discounts under the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program on acquisition costs paid to manufacturers. (Funded by Arnold Ventures and the National Institute for Health Care Management.).

Objectives To quantify the relationship between a national primary care pay-for-performance programme, the UK’s Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), and all-cause and cause-specific premature mortality linked closely with conditions included in the framework.Design Longitudinal spatial study, at the level of the “lower layer super output area” (LSOA).Setting 32482 LSOAs (neighbourhoods of 1500 people on average), covering the whole population of England (approximately 53.5 million), from 2007 to 2012.Participants 8647 English general practices participating in the QOF for at least one year of the study period, including over 99% of patients registered with primary care.Intervention National pay-for-performance programme incentivising performance on over 100 quality-of-care indicators.Main outcome measures All-cause and cause-specific mortality rates for six chronic conditions: diabetes, heart failure, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease. We used multiple linear regressions to investigate the relationship between spatially estimated recorded quality of care and mortality.Results All-cause and cause-specific mortality rates declined over the study period. Higher mortality was associated with greater area deprivation, urban location, and higher proportion of a non-white population. In general, there was no significant relationship between practice performance on quality indicators included in the QOF and all-cause or cause-specific mortality rates in the practice locality.Conclusions Higher reported achievement of activities incentivised under a major, nationwide pay-for-performance programme did not seem to result in reduced incidence of premature death in the population.

Objective To assess the between hospital variation in use of guideline recommended treatments and clinical outcomes for acute myocardial infarction in Sweden and the United Kingdom.Design Population based longitudinal cohort study using nationwide clinical registries.Setting and participants Nationwide registry data comprising all hospitals providing acute myocardial infarction care in Sweden (SWEDEHEART/RIKS-HIA, n=87; 119 786 patients) and the UK (NICOR/MINAP, n=242; 391 077 patients), 2004-10.Main outcome measures Between hospital variation in 30 day mortality of patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction.Results Case mix standardised 30 day mortality from acute myocardial infarction was lower in Swedish hospitals (8.4%) than in UK hospitals (9.7%), with less variation between hospitals (interquartile range 2.6% v 3.5%). In both countries, hospital level variation and 30 day mortality were inversely associated with provision of guideline recommended care. Compared with the highest quarter, hospitals in the lowest quarter for use of primary percutaneous coronary intervention had higher volume weighted 30 day mortality for ST elevation myocardial infarction (10.7% v 6.6% in Sweden; 12.7% v 5.8% in the UK). The adjusted odds ratio comparing the highest with the lowest quarters for hospitals’ use of primary percutaneous coronary intervention was 0.70 (95% confidence interval 0.62 to 0.79) in Sweden and 0.68 (0.60 to 0.76) in the UK. Differences in risk between hospital quarters of treatment for non-ST elevation myocardial infarction and secondary prevention drugs for all discharged acute myocardial infarction patients were smaller than for reperfusion treatment in both countries.Conclusion Between hospital variation in 30 day mortality for acute myocardial infarction was greater in the UK than in Sweden. This was associated with, and may be partly accounted for by, the higher practice variation in acute myocardial infarction guideline recommended treatment in the UK hospitals. High quality healthcare across all hospitals, especially in the UK, with better use of guideline recommended treatment, may not only reduce unacceptable practice variation but also deliver improved clinical outcomes for patients with acute myocardial infarction.Clinical trials registration Clinical trials NCT01359033.

Every five years a series of studies is carried out by the Census Bureau which provides an opportunity to review the basic economic well-being of the many industries at the national, state and county levels. A comparison of dental economic data from the 2007 and 2012 studies for the period that encompassed the 2007-2009 \"Great Recession\" details the general economic difficulties faced by the dental profession during this period.