Identifying high-impact-opportunity hospitals for improving healthcare quality based on a national population analysis of inter-hospital variation in mortality, readmissions and prolonged length of stay.

Objectives: To study between-hospital variation in mortality, readmissions and prolonged length of stay across Belgian hospitals.

Design: A retrospective nationwide observational study.

Setting: Secondary and tertiary acute-care hospitals in Belgium.

Updates on Clinical Language Sampling Practices: A Survey of Speech-Language Pathologists Practicing in the United States.

Purpose: Language sample analysis (LSA) provides many benefits for assessing, identifying therapy goals, and monitoring the progress of children with language disorders. Despite these widely recognized advantages, previous surveys suggest the declining use of LSA by speech-language pathologists (SLPs). This study aimed to provide updates on clinical LSA use following the recent introduction of two new LSA protocols, namely, the Sampling Utterances and Grammatical Analysis Revised (SUGAR) protocol and the Computerized Language Analysis KIDEVAL program.

Rates Of Patient Safety Indicators In Belgian Hospitals Were Low But Generally Higher Than In US Hospitals, 2016-18.

More than two decades ago, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality developed its Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) to monitor potentially preventable and severe adverse events within hospitals. Application of PSIs outside the US was explored more than a decade ago, but it is uncertain whether they remain relevant within Europe, as no up-to-date assessments of overall PSI-associated adverse event rates or interhospital variability can be found in the literature. This article assesses the nationwide occurrence and variability of thirteen adverse events for a case study of Belgium.

Assessing the risk of climate maladaptation for Canadian polar bears.

The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the world, threatening the persistence of many Arctic species. It is uncertain if Arctic wildlife will have sufficient time to adapt to such rapidly warming environments. We used genetic forecasting to measure the risk of maladaptation to warming temperatures and sea ice loss in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) sampled across the Canadian Arctic.

Wound Care Capacity of the Addiction Workforce in the Setting of Xylazine.

Objectives: As xylazine increasingly adulterates the unregulated opioid supply, people who use drugs (PWUD) are more likely to experience sequalae from xylazine. Given xylazine exposure is consistently associated with development of wounds which can heal with medically directed wound care, we sought to understand the level of preparedness and ability of front-line addiction professionals who interact with PWUD to provide wound care treatment.

Methods: We administered a 26-item online survey assessing participant and organizational characteristics, level of wound care training, ability to test for xylazine and treat xylazine-associated wounds, and funding and billing characteristics to a national sample of addiction professionals using a listserv of over 11,000 individuals.