Nasogastric tube in mechanical ventilated patients: ETCO2 and pH measuring to confirm correct placement. A pilot study.

Introduction: Nasogastric tube (NGT) placement is a procedure commonly performed in mechanically ventilated (MV) patients. Chest X-Ray is the diagnostic gold-standard to confirm its correct placement, with the downsides of requiring MV patients' mobilization and of intrinsic actinic risk. Other potential methods to confirm NGT placement have shown lower accuracy compared to chest X-ray; end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2) and pH analysis have already been singularly investigated as an alternative to the gold standard.

Do care plans and annual reviews of physical health influence unplanned hospital utilisation for people with serious mental illness? Analysis of linked longitudinal primary and secondary healthcare records in England.

Objective: To investigate whether two primary care activities that are framed as indicators of primary care quality (comprehensive care plans and annual reviews of physical health) influence unplanned utilisation of hospital services for people with serious mental illness (SMI).

Design, Setting, Participants: Retrospective observational cohort study using linked primary care and hospital records (Hospital Episode Statistics) for 5158 patients diagnosed with SMI between April 2006 and March 2014, who attended 213 primary care practices in England that contribute to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD database.

Outcomes And Analysis: Cox survival models were used to estimate the associations between two primary care quality indicators (care plans and annual reviews of physical health) and the hazards of three types of unplanned hospital utilisation: presentation to accident and emergency departments (A&E), admission for SMI and admission for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC).

The impact of the UK National Minimum Wage on mental health.

Despite an emerging literature, there is still sparse and mixed evidence on the wider societal benefits of Minimum Wage policies, including their effects on mental health. Furthermore, causal evidence on the relationship between earnings and mental health is limited. We focus on low-wage earners, who are at higher risk of psychological distress, and exploit the quasi-experiment provided by the introduction of the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) to identify the causal impact of wage increases on mental health.

Identifying primary care quality indicators for people with serious mental illness: a systematic review.

Background: Serious mental illness (SMI) - which comprises long-term conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other psychoses - has enormous costs for patients and society. In many countries, people with SMI are treated solely in primary care, and have particular needs for physical care.

Aim: The objective of this study was to systematically review the literature to create a list of quality indicators relevant to patients with SMI that could be captured using routine data, and which could be used to monitor or incentivise better-quality primary care.

Catastrophic healthcare expenditure - drivers and protection: the Portuguese case.

The objective of this paper is to assess the extent of catastrophic healthcare expenditure, which can lead to impoverishment, even in a country with a National Health Service, such as Portugal. The level of catastrophic healthcare expenditure will be identified before the determinants of these catastrophic payments are analyzed. Afterwards, the effects of existing exemptions to copayments in health care use will be tested and the relationship between catastrophe and impoverishment will be discussed.