How Patient Partners Influence Quality Improvement Efforts.

Background: There is growing acknowledgement that patients are key stakeholders in improving quality of medical care, yet a key barrier to integrating patients into quality improvement teams (QITs) as patient partners is the lack of evidence of their impact. This mixed-method study was conducted to identify the ways patient partners influence QITs and to document the extent of patient partners' impact.

Methods: Focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 patient partners and 11 staff at WellSpan Health and Aligning Forces for Quality-South Central Pennsylvania to identify the specific mechanisms through which patients influenced QIT efforts.

Lymphatic absorption, metabolism, and excretion of a therapeutic peptide in dogs and rats.

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the mechanism of absorption and metabolism of a PEGylated peptide, MRL-1 (46 kDa), after s.c. dosing in dogs and rats.

Early lessons from four 'aligning forces for quality' communities bolster the case for patient-centered care.

The practice of patient-centered care remains in its developmental stages-hampered, in part, by limited evidence of its effectiveness. In this article we first review available evidence on patient-centered care, such as the positive effects of engaging patients in quality improvement activities. We also point out the existence of a research gap that makes it difficult to quantify the effect of "culture change" in health care, and to attribute improvements specifically to patients' involvement.

Urokinase plasminogen activator impairs SNP and PGE2 cerebrovasodilation after brain injury through activation of LRP and ERK MAPK.

Pial artery dilation in response to prostaglandin (PG)E(2) and the nitric oxide (NO) releaser sodium nitroprusside (SNP) are blunted after fluid percussion brain injury (FPI), whereas responses to papaverine are unchanged. Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) are upregulated and contribute to the impairment of cerebrohemodynamics seen after FPI. PA vascular activity is mediated through the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LRP).