¶ … Amin, B et al. (2013). Pitfalls of calculating hospital readmission rates based on nonvalidated administrative data sets. Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, 18(2): 134-138. This study examines the University of California's Medical Center in San Francisco in order to determine if its all-cause readmission rates accurately reflect the readmission rates for spine injury patients. The secondary purpose of the study is to identify readmission predictors. The researchers collected data from 5780 consecutive patient visits. 5% of the visitors were readmitted within a month of their discharge. The researchers examined variables that led to their readmission and regression analysis was conducted in order to spot predictors. A t-test was also used to see if there was any difference in admission vs. non-readmission incidents. The researchers found that infection was the number one variable leading to readmission, inoperable management the second most common variable, and planned surgery the third most common variable for readmission. The fact that planned surgery accounts for more than 10% of all readmissions indicates that the all-cause readmission rates do not accurately reflect that actually injury rates. Thus, the researcher concludes that new benchmarking algorithms should be implemented in order to remove planned surgery and unrelated reasons from the readmission rate/cost data. The study is helpful for showing that updates and revisions are necessary when it comes to collecting specific data regarding readmissions for this University hospital.

Cimiotti, J., Aiken, L., Sloane, D., Wu, E. (2012).

American Journal of Infection Control, 40(6): 486-490.
The researchers use nurse survey data from the American Hospital Association to collect information on urinary tract infection and surgical site infection. Linear regression analysis was conducted to measure the relationship between nursing care and infections. The researchers found a statistically significant correlation between burnout reductions in hospitals and fewer numbers of infections, with an estimated cost savings of more than $65 million per year. The conclusion of the researchers is that by reducing nurse burnout in hospitals (i.e., eradicating factors that lead to burnout), hospitals can save a large amount of money associated with treating infections. The article is helpful for showing that preventive care (via addressing the issue of nurse burnout by the administrative) is a cost-efficient, pro-active way to promote better quality care and safer working environments.

Kachalia, A. (2013). Improving patient safety through transparency. New England

Journal of Medicine, 369: 1677-1679.

This study provides a qualitative review…