http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Surgical infections associated with pacemakers and defibrillators led to 3-fold increases in hospital stay, 55-118% higher hospitalization costs, 8 to 11 fold increase in mortality rates, and double the mortality after 1 year compared to pacemaker and defibrillator implantations where no infection occurred. Surprisingly, more than one-third of the excess mortality occurred after hospital discharge. These findings, from a new study in Medicare beneficiaries of more than 200,000 pacemaker and defibrillator implantations with and without infection, were presented today at a poster session at the American College of Cardiology 60th Annual Scientific Session by researchers from the Mayo Clinic, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and TYRX, Inc. http://phys.org/news221138641.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:24:13 EST news221138641 Elderly patients with heart failure who need skilled nursing care after hospital discharge are often sicker, at higher risk for poor outcomes and are more likely than other patients to die or be rehospitalized within one year, according to research reported in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal. http://phys.org/news220636780.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:01:02 EST news220636780 There are 50 million family members providing care to older adults in the United States, according to the MetLife Foundation and national caregiving associations. When older adults are hospitalized and discharged, their families face numerous choices about where they will go and how they will receive care. A University of Missouri nursing expert says the complexity of this process will intensify with increasing demands for health care and workforce shortages. http://phys.org/news220010547.html Medicine & Health Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:02:58 EST news220010547 In a study that included more than 120,000 adults who were treated for trauma, 16 percent of these patients died within 3 years of their injury, compared to an expected population mortality rate of about 6 percent, according to a study in the March 9 issue of JAMA. The researchers also found that trauma patients who were discharged to a skilled nursing facility had a significantly increased risk of death compared with patients discharged home without assistance. http://phys.org/news218827481.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:00:02 EST news218827481 A UCLA-led has study found that after leaving the hospital, nearly two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for acute ischemic stroke either died or were rehospitalized within a year. http://phys.org/news211741365.html Medicine & Health Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:02:59 EST news211741365 Patients with joint problems such as rheumatism or arthritis who are discharged from hospital often require a significant recovery time before they return to a reasonable degree of mobility. Yvette Bulthuis of the University of Twente IBR Research Institute for Social Sciences and Technology, The Netherlands, researched the effect that an intensive, three-week training programme in a resort would have on these patients. The results show that this multidisciplinary method not only improves physical condition, mobility, functioning and quality of life in both the short and long term, but that it is also no more expensive than traditional approaches to recovery. http://phys.org/news209749124.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:50:04 EST news209749124 Children with chronic health conditions such as cystic fibrosis, type 1 diabetes, sickle cell diseases and cerebral palsy represent less than two percent of the population but can consume more than 50 percent of resources at children's hospitals throughout the country. Coordinating care for these children has historically been difficult because hospitals have varying methods to identify them in their systems. In a new study led by John Neff, MD, of Seattle Children's Research Institute, researchers developed a unique method to identify children with serious lifelong chronic conditions using hospital discharge data that will enable children's hospitals to improve the quality of care for these patients and reduce costs. The study, "Identifying Children with Lifelong Chronic Conditions for Care Coordination Using Hospital Discharge Data," published online November 15 in Academic Pediatrics. http://phys.org/news209120819.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Nov 2010 09:20:03 EST news209120819 In a comparison of outcomes in Arizona for out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for cardiac arrest performed by bystanders, patients who received compression-only CPR were more likely to survive to hospital discharge than patients who received conventional CPR or no CPR, according to a study in the October 6 issue of JAMA. http://phys.org/news205515381.html Medicine & Health Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:10:04 EST news205515381 Patients who have excessive oxygen levels in arterial blood (hyperoxia) following resuscitation from cardiac arrest have a higher rate of death in the hospital than similar patients without arterial hyperoxia, according to a study in the June 2 issue of JAMA. http://phys.org/news194628508.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:30:01 EST news194628508 New UC Davis research has found that patients scheduled to undergo coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in California were just as ill in 2003 — when public reporting of performance data for this particular surgery began — as in 2006, evidence that "report cards" did not cause doctors or hospitals to turn away sicker patients. http://phys.org/news191061014.html Medicine & Health Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:40:01 EST news191061014 An analysis of Medicare data indicates that elderly patients who are hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU) and survive to be discharged from the hospital have a high rate of death in the following three years, and that, in particular, patients who receive mechanical ventilation have a substantially increased rate of death compared with both hospital and general population controls in the first several months after hospital discharge, according to a study in the March 3 issue of JAMA. http://phys.org/news186771120.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:30:02 EST news186771120 Heart failure is by far the most prevalent chronic cardiac condition. Around 30 million people in Europe have heart failure and its incidence is still increasing: more cases are being identified, more people are living to an old age, and more are surviving a heart attack but with damage to the heart muscle. http://phys.org/news186729628.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:50:01 EST news186729628 Intensive care unit patients are not the only ones likely to be severely depressed in the aftermath of hospitalization. Family and friends who care for them often suffer emotional and social hardship, too, according to a prospective study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine that is the first to monitor patients and caregivers during a one-year period for predictors of depression and lifestyle disruption. http://phys.org/news184253693.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:00:02 EST news184253693 Patients with sudden loss of kidney function, called acute kidney injury (AKI), are more likely to die prematurely after leaving the hospital—even if their kidney function has apparently recovered, according to an upcoming study in Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). "Our study found that risk of death remains elevated long after the acute kidney injury," comments Jean-Phillipe Lafrance, MD (Center for Health Quality, Outcomes, and Economic Research, Bedford, MA). http://phys.org/news180297772.html Medicine & Health Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:20:01 EST news180297772 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have developed a new way to estimate when the tiniest preemies -- babies born months early -- will go home from the hospital. http://phys.org/news180030905.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:35:27 EST news180030905 Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and the Richmond Ambulance Authority have improved resuscitation and survival rates dramatically for cardiac arrest patients by training and equipping paramedics to begin lowering a patient's body temperature in the field during resuscitation and following up at the hospital with a host of high-tech strategies to improve the odds of survival. http://phys.org/news177604279.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:10:09 EST news177604279 Rapidly cooling a person in cardiac arrest may improve their chance of survival without brain damage, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009. http://phys.org/news177581748.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:30:01 EST news177581748 Maximizing the proportion of time spent performing chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) substantially improves survival in patients who suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital setting, according to a multicenter clinical study that included UT Southwestern Medical Center. http://phys.org/news173420522.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:40:01 EST news173420522 (PhysOrg.com) -- An increasing number of women diagnosed with cancer in one breast are opting to have their healthy breast surgically removed, according to a recent study of New York State data. The study also finds that, despite extensive press coverage of women who choose to have both breasts removed because of a strong family history of cancer, the rate of this surgery is relatively low and has changed little in the last decade. Led by Stephen B. Edge, MD, FACS, Chair of the Department of Surgery at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the study appears in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. http://phys.org/news173370743.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:33:22 EST news173370743 Poor communication of the outcomes of medical tests whose results are pending at the time of a patient's hospital discharge is common and can lead to serious medical errors in post-hospitalization medical treatment. http://phys.org/news168865346.html Medicine & Health Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:40:01 EST news168865346 Major depression and coronary artery disease are only modestly related throughout an individual's lifetime, but studying how the two interact over time and in twin pairs paints a more complex picture of the associations between the conditions, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. For example, the association between coronary artery disease onset and major depression risk is much stronger over time than vice versa. http://phys.org/news168537846.html Medicine & Health Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:10:01 EST news168537846 The appropriate placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) is critical to optimize their use in public places, according to two studies published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. http://phys.org/news167936124.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:01 EST news167936124 New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics should eliminate one of the many stresses of bringing a preterm or low birth weight infant home from the hospital. http://phys.org/news160056549.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:09:50 EST news160056549 Hospitals that reported higher scores on measures of safe practices did not have a significantly lower rate of in-hospital deaths compared to hospitals that reported lower scores on these measures, according to a study in the April 1 issue of JAMA. http://phys.org/news157738118.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:09:10 EST news157738118 Following an acute coronary syndrome such as a heart attack or unstable angina, patients who receive a medication to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding that may be associated with the use of the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel and aspirin have an increased risk of subsequent hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome or death, according to a study in the March 4 issue of JAMA. http://phys.org/news155320506.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:36:06 EST news155320506 When a hospital is capacity constrained, the constraint can affect admission and discharge decisions. A new study in the RAND Journal of Economics examined how hospitals' admission and discharge behavior is affected by fluctuations in demand. Results show that on days when hospitals face high demand, patients are discharged earlier than expected when compared to those discharged on days when demand is low. http://phys.org/news141568319.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:31:59 EST news141568319