Patient and family description of receiving care in acuity adaptable care model.

Aim: To explore patient and family perspectives of hospital care in an acuity adaptable care model implemented in an urban, public safety-net hospital.

Background: Specialty care units result in reactionary bed management. Changes in acuity generate costly, disruptive, intra-hospital patient transfers, which negatively affect clinical outcomes while increasing nurse workload.

Patients' bath basins as potential sources of infection: a multicenter sampling study.

Background: Nosocomial infections are a marked burden on the US health care system and are linked to a high number of patient deaths.

Objective: To identify and quantify bacteria in patients' bath basins and evaluate the basins as a possible reservoir for bacterial colonization and a risk factor for subsequent hospital-acquired infection.

Methods: In a prospective study at 3 acute care hospitals, 92 bath basins, including basins from 3 intensive care units, were evaluated.

Factors associated with hospital arrival time for stroke patients.

Patients who experience a sudden ischemic stroke can benefit from administration of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to reduce the resulting disability, yet few arrive in time to be eligible for tPA administration. The purpose of this study was to determine (a) the stroke warning signs that most commonly result in the decision to seek hospital care, (b) who makes the decision to seek hospital care, (c) the most common mode of transportation to the hospital, (d) hospital arrival time in relation to the onset of the first warning sign, and (e) factors most associated with hospital arrival time for stroke survivors. Using a descriptive, cross-sectional design, data from a convenience sample of 50 stroke survivors and/or their companions (family, friends, or others seeking hospital care for the patient) were obtained by face-to-face interview during the patient's hospital stay using a structured interview guide developed by the investigator.