Serial sexual murder by juveniles and the role of sexual sadism: An international study.

This is a descriptive study of 21 cases of serial sexual murder by children and adolescents spanning nearly the past century and a half. No earlier cases worldwide were identified. Each of these youth committed two or more sexual homicides prior to age 18.

Trajectories of Frailty in the 5 Years Prior to Death Among U.S. Veterans Born 1927-1934.

Background: Electronic frailty indices (eFIs) are increasingly used to identify patients at risk for morbidity and mortality. Whether eFIs capture the spectrum of frailty change, including decline, stability, and improvement, is unknown.

Methods: In a nationwide retrospective birth cohort of U.

A heuristic study of the similarities and differences in offender characteristics across potential and successful serial sexual homicide offenders.

This heuristic study examined potential serial sexual homicide offenders (SSHOs), an unacknowledged offender group comprised of aspiring and probable SSHOs, and compared them with successful SSHOs. Data were collected on six aspiring SSHOs who each failed a single homicide attempt, 16 probable SSHOs who committed 17 homicides in separate events, and 13 successful SSHOs who killed 90 victims in separate events. The study results indicate that while potential SSHOs share more in common with successful SSHOs than they do with single-victim nonsexual homicide offenders, and that there is an overlap between potential SSHOs and successful SSHOs, there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest that there are discreet transitions among categories.

Updating and Validating the U.S. Veterans Affairs Frailty Index: Transitioning From ICD-9 to ICD-10.

Background: The Veterans Affairs Frailty Index (VA-FI) is an electronic frailty index developed to measure frailty using administrative claims and electronic health records data in Veterans. An update to ICD-10 coding is needed to enable contemporary measurement of frailty.

Method: International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision (ICD-9) codes from the original VA-FI were mapped to ICD-10 first using the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) General Equivalence Mappings.

A Behaviour Sequence Analysis of Serial Killers' Lives: From Childhood Abuse to Methods of Murder.

The aim of the current research was to provide a new method for mapping the developmental sequences of serial killers' life histories. The role of early childhood abuse, leading to types of serial murder and behaviours involved in the murders, was analysed using Behaviour Sequence Analysis. A large database ( = 233) of male serial killers with known childhood abuse (physical, sexual, or psychological) was analysed according to typologies and crime scene behaviours.

Geriatric Patient-Aligned Care Teams in Department of Veterans Affairs: How Are They Structured?

Geriatric Patient-Aligned Care Teams (GeriPACT) were implemented in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (i.e., Patient-Centered Medical Homes for older adults) to provide high quality coordinated care to older adults with more risk of negative health and psychosocial outcomes.

The Burden of Frailty Among U.S. Veterans and Its Association With Mortality, 2002-2012.

Background: Frailty is a key determinant of clinical outcomes. We sought to describe frailty among U.S.

Evaluating the Implementation of Project Re-Engineered Discharge (RED) in Five Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Hospitals.

Background: Improving the process of hospital discharge is a critical priority. Interventions to improve care transitions have been shown to reduce the rate of early unplanned readmissions, and consequently, there is growing interest in improving transitions of care between hospital and home through appropriate interventions. Project Re-Engineered Discharge (RED) has shown promise in strengthening the discharge process.

Using Behavior Sequence Analysis to Map Serial Killers' Life Histories.

The aim of the current research was to provide a novel method for mapping the developmental sequences of serial killers' life histories. An in-depth biographical account of serial killers' lives, from birth through to conviction, was gained and analyzed using Behavior Sequence Analysis. The analyses highlight similarities in behavioral events across the serial killers' lives, indicating not only which risk factors occur, but the temporal order of these factors.

Tailoring an educational program on the AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators to meet stakeholder needs: lessons learned in the VA.

Background: Given that patient safety measures are increasingly used for public reporting and pay-for performance, it is important for stakeholders to understand how to use these measures for improvement. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) are one particularly visible set of measures that are now used primarily for public reporting and pay-for-performance among both private sector and Veterans Health Administration (VA) hospitals. This trend generates a strong need for stakeholders to understand how to interpret and use the PSIs for quality improvement (QI).

A Systematic Review of Patient Safety Measures in Adult Primary Care.

Safety measure development has focused on inpatient care despite outpatient visits far outnumbering inpatient admissions. Some measures are clearly identified as outpatient safety measures when published, yet outcomes from quality improvement studies also may be useful measures. The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify published articles detailing safety measures applicable to adult primary care.