Consequences of Inpatient Falls in Acute Care: A Retrospective Register Study.

Aims: The objectives of this study were (1) to explore the consequences of falls; (2) to find out time and place of the fall events; and (3) to explore the impact of falls on the length of hospital stays in adults' inpatient acute care.

Background: In hospitals, falls are the most common accidents that can occur to a patient during hospitalization. Injuries resulting from serious falls can cause lifelong harm to the patient due to loss of well-being and independence.

Semantic Interoperability of Electronic Health Records: Systematic Review of Alternative Approaches for Enhancing Patient Information Availability.

Background: Semantic interoperability facilitates the exchange of and access to health data that are being documented in electronic health records (EHRs) with various semantic features. The main goals of semantic interoperability development entail patient data availability and use in diverse EHRs without a loss of meaning. Internationally, current initiatives aim to enhance semantic development of EHR data and, consequently, the availability of patient data.

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol improves patient outcomes in free flap surgery for head and neck cancer.

Background: In recent years, enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) guidelines have been developed to optimize pre-, intra-, and postoperative care of surgical oncology patients. The aim of this study was to compare management outcome of patients undergoing head and neck cancer (HNC) surgery with free flap reconstruction at our institution before and after the implementation of the ERAS guidelines.

Methods: This retrospective study comprised 283 patients undergoing HNC surgery with free flap reconstruction between 2013 and 2020.

Costs of oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer treatment in Finland.

Background: Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) can be treated with definitive (chemo)radiotherapy ((C)RT) or primary surgical treatment (PST) with or without postoperative oncologic treatment. The prognosis of OPSCC does not essentially depend on the treatment modality, which allows to consider secondary decision-making aspects such as treatment costs when recommending an individual treatment modality. We attempted to analyze the costs associated with definitive (C)RT and PST in the treatment of OPSCC in Finland.

Virtual visits at the Helsinki Head and Neck Center during the COVID-19 pandemic: patient safety incidents and the experiences of patients and staff.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, health care had to find new ways to care for patients while reducing infection transmission. The role of telemedicine role has grown exponentially.

Methods: A questionnaire on experiences and satisfaction was sent to the staff of the Head and Neck Center of Helsinki University Hospital and to otorhinolaryngology patients treated remotely between March and June 2020.

Clinical Alarms in a Gynaecological Surgical Unit: A Retrospective Data Analysis.

Alarm fatigue refers to the desensitisation of medical staff to patient monitor clinical alarms, which may lead to slower response time or total ignorance of alarms and thereby affects patient safety. The reasons behind alarm fatigue are complex; the main contributing factors include the high number of alarms and the poor positive predictive value of alarms. The study was performed in the Surgery and Anaesthesia Unit of the Women's Hospital, Helsinki, by collecting data from patient monitoring device clinical alarms and patient characteristics from surgical operations.

Fall rates by specialties and risk factors for falls in acute hospital: A retrospective study.

Background: Falls are common adverse events in acute care hospitals, and about 25-50% of fallers suffer injuries. In acute care, fall rates range from 0.4-9 falls per 1000 patient days, varying among unit types, patient characteristics, and diseases.

Mental well-being of healthcare workers in 2 hospital districts during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unseen pressure on healthcare systems in many countries, jeopardizing the mental well-being of healthcare workers. The authors aimed to assess the mental well-being of Finnish healthcare workers from 2 hospital districts (Helsinki University Hospital [HUS] and Social and Health Services in Kymenlaakso [Kymsote]) with differing COVID-19 incidence rates during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020.

Material And Methods: A total number of 996 healthcare workers (HUS N = 862, Kymsote N = 134) participated in this prospectively conducted survey study during summer 2020.

Risk factors for evaluating early mortality after microvascular reconstruction of head and neck cancers.

Background: Free tissue transfer reconstruction carries significant complication rates in surgical head and neck oncology. A registry-based approach offers a possibility to investigate the factors affecting increased morbidity and early mortality, that is, death within 6 months of treatment.

Methods: A retrospective registry review was conducted on a series of 317 consecutive microvascular free tissue transfers in head and neck cancer patients performed during 2013-2017 at the Helsinki University Hospital (Helsinki, Finland).

Understanding public procurement within the health sector: a priority in a post-COVID-19 world.

Every year, over 250,000 public authorities in the European Union (EU) spend about 14% of GDP on the purchase of services, works and supplies. Many are in the health sector, a sector in which public authorities are the main buyers in many countries. When these purchases exceed threshold values, EU public procurement rules apply.

Implementing a New Electronic Health Record System in a University Hospital: The Effect on Reported Medication Errors.

Closed-loop electronic medication management systems (EMMS) have been seen as a potential technology to prevent medication errors (MEs), although the research on them is still limited. The aim of this paper was to describe the changes in reported MEs in Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) during and after implementing an EPIC-based electronic health record system (APOTTI), with the first features of a closed-loop EMMS. MEs reported from January 2018 to May 2021 were analysed to identify changes in ME trends with quantitative analysis.

Patient safety incidents in dentomaxillofacial imaging: reported adverse events from Hospital District Helsinki and Uusimaa and the City of Helsinki during 2012-2017.

Objectives: Our study aimed to reveal the frequency of patient safety incidents (PSI) in dentomaxillofacial radiology (DMFR), including their mitigating and contributing factors, to help recognize and thus better prevent these adverse events (AE) in the future.

Methods: Hospital District Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) and the City of Helsinki (HKI) use HaiPro, an anonymous web-based tool, for healthcare professionals to report PSI. Dentistry-related PSIs were evaluated individually to find any DMFR-related reports.

A machine learning approach to predict resilience and sickness absence in the healthcare workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCWs) have faced unprecedented workloads and personal health risks leading to mental disorders and surges in sickness absence. Previous work has shown that interindividual differences in psychological resilience might explain why only some individuals are vulnerable to these consequences. However, no prognostic tools to predict individual HCW resilience during the pandemic have been developed.

Effect of age adjustment on two triage methods.

Background: Most emergency departments rely on acuity assessment, triage, to recognize critically ill patients that need urgent treatment, and to allocate resources according to need. The accuracy of commonly used triage instruments such as the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) is lower for older adults compared to young patients. We aim to examine, whether adjusting the triage category by age leads to improvement in sensitivity without excessive increase in patient numbers in the higher triage categories.

Accuracy of Emergency Severity Index in older adults.

Background And Importance: Emergency Severity Index is a five-level triage tool in the emergency department that predicts the need for emergency department resources and the degree of emergency. However, it is unknown whether this is valid in patients aged greater than or equal to 65 years.

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the accuracy of the Emergency Severity Index triage system between emergency department patients aged 18-64 and greater than or equal to 65 years.

Aerosol generation during general anesthesia is comparable to coughing: An observational clinical study.

Background: Intubation, laryngoscopy, and extubation are considered highly aerosol-generating procedures, and additional safety protocols are used during COVID-19 pandemic in these procedures. However, previous studies are mainly experimental and have neither analyzed staff exposure to aerosol generation in the real-life operating room environment nor compared the exposure to aerosol concentrations generated during normal patient care. To assess operational staff exposure to potentially infectious particle generation during general anesthesia, we measured particle concentration and size distribution with patients undergoing surgery with Optical Particle Sizer.

Testing of Reliability and Validity of the Peninsula Health Falls Risk Assessment Tool (PHFRAT) in Acute Care: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Peninsula Health Fall Risk Assessment Tool (PHFRAT) in acute care in various medical specialties. The assessment has not been previously studied in acute care.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted in a large acute care hospital system.

Resilience Testing of Health Systems: How Can It Be Done?

The resilience of health systems has received considerable attention as of late, yet little is known about what a resilience test might look like. We develop a resilience test concept and methodology. We describe key components of a toolkit and a 5-phased approach to implementation of resilience testing that can be adapted to individual health systems.

Sources of healthcare workers' COVID‑19 infections and related safety guidelines.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of safety guidelines in the workplace, the authors analyzed the work-related exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and the source of COVID‑19 infections among healthcare workers (HCWs), together with the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Material And Methods: A cross-sectional prospective study was conducted in tertiary hospitals in the Uusimaa region, Finland, with 1072 volunteers being enrolled in the study from among the HCWs at the Helsinki University Hospital. Overall, 866 (80.

Clinical alarms and alarm fatigue in a University Hospital Emergency Department-A retrospective data analysis.

Background: Alarm fatigue is hypothesized to be caused by vast amount of patient monitor alarms. Objectives were to study the frequency and types of patient monitor alarms, to evaluate alarm fatigue, and to find unit specific alarm threshold values in a university hospital emergency department.

Methods: We retrospectively gathered alarm data from 9 September to 6 October 2019, in Jorvi Hospital Emergency department, Finland.