Publications by authors named "Elle Kaplan"

Handoffs involve the transfer of patient information and responsibility for care between health care professionals. The purpose of the current scoping review was (1) to describe handoff studies with education as part of the intervention and (2) to explore the role of handoff educational interventions in sustaining handoff improvements. This scoping review utilized previously published systematic reviews and a structured, systematic search of 5 databases (January 2006-June 2020).

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Patient education materials (PEMs) serve as a foundation for educating patients and families across all surgical fields but are often not understandable. The National Institute of Health (NIH) recommends that PEMs be written at a grade 6-7 reading level; however, most current materials exceed that measure. Lack of understandable and appropriate surgical PEMs compounds the difficulties that low health literacy patients face with resultant poor surgical outcomes.

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Article Synopsis
  • The objective of the study was to assess the effects of a risk-stratified heparin-based thromboprophylaxis protocol before and after its implementation in obstetric patients from 2013 to 2018.
  • Results showed no significant difference in rates of postpartum venous thromboembolism (VTE) between the preprotocol and postprotocol groups, despite a substantial increase in the use of heparin-based prophylaxis.
  • However, the postprotocol group experienced higher rates of wound hematomas, unplanned surgical procedures, and blood transfusions, suggesting that implementing this strategy may lead to more complications without reducing VTE rates, prompting a reevaluation of the guidelines.
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