Avoidable 30-day readmissions among patients with stroke and other cerebrovascular disease.

Background: There are limited data on factors associated with 30-day readmissions and the frequency of avoidable readmissions among patients with stroke and other cerebrovascular disease.

Methods: University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) database records were used to identify patients discharged with a diagnosis of stroke or other cerebrovascular disease at a university hospital from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009 and readmitted within 30 days to the index hospital. Logistic regression models were used to identify patient and clinical characteristics associated with 30-day readmission.

What is the risk of distress in palliative care survey research?

To determine whether caregivers believe that interviews about end-of-life care are distressing and to identify patient and respondent characteristics associated with an increased risk of distress, distress was assessed in four studies that used family interviews. The setting was four Medicare certified hospice organizations, the University of Pennsylvania Memory Disorders Clinic, and two nursing homes, and participants included 296 family members of seriously ill or recently deceased patients. For three of the studies, respondents described their distress on a 5-point scale.

How should clinicians discuss hospice for patients with dementia? Anticipating caregivers' preconceptions and meeting their information needs.

This study was designed to determine whether Alzheimer disease (AD) caregivers view the benefits of hospice as more relevant to themselves or to patients, to identify the features of hospice care that are most important to caregivers, and to determine how often these features are described in hospice promotional materials. Telephone interviews were conducted with AD caregivers from a Memory Disorders Clinic of an urban academic medical center (N = 45). A nationwide mail survey of randomly selected hospices was also conducted (N = 66).