Patient safety and climate change: findings from a cross-sectional survey in Germany.

Background: Patient safety has become a priority issue in health policy strategies in Germany in the last several years, and is especially important in the era of climate change. This study aimed to assess public perceptions about the patient safety impact of climate change and the demographic and socioeconomic factors influencing patient perception in Germany.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Germany in 2023, using data from the TK Monitor of Patient Safety.

A theoretical framework for linking hospitals longitudinally: demonstrated using German Hospital Quality Reports 2016-2020.

Background: In longitudinal health services research, hospital identification using an ID code, often supplemented with several additional variables, lacks clarity regarding representativeness and variable influence. This study presents an operational method for hospital identity delimitation and a novel longitudinal identification approach, demonstrated using a case study.

Methods: The conceptualisation considers hospitals as evolving entities, identifying "similar enough" pairs across two time points using an automated similarity matrix.

[Patient safety in the Innovation Fund - Characterization, results and evaluation of completed projects: Results of a scoping review].

The German Innovation Fund has funded various studies on patient safety. Their thematic spectrum, methodological quality, results and recommendations of the Innovation committee were to be systematically investigated in order to derive proposals for optimizing transfer success. As part of a scoping review, all Innovation Fund projects funded in the period 2016-02/2023 with a focus on patient safety were analyzed.

Pandemic Preparedness - A Proposal for a Research Infrastructure and its Functionalities for a Resilient Health Research System.

Während einer Pandemie muss Resilienz nicht nur als Eigenschaft des Gesundheitssystems, sondern auch des umgebenden Forschungsumfelds betrachtet werden. Um verlässliche, evidenzbasierte Empfehlungen aus der Universitätsmedizin an die Gesundheitspolitik und die Entscheidungsträger bereitstellen zu können, müssen wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse schnell, integrativ und multidisziplinär generiert, synthetisiert und kommuniziert werden. Die Resilienz der öffentlichen Gesundheitssysteme und der Gesundheitsforschungssysteme sind somit eng verknüpft.

[Development of an indicator set for the evaluation of the quality of routine ambulatory health care for common disorders in children and adolescents].

Background: In Germany, no consented quality indicator set (QI set) exists to date that can be used to assess the quality of pediatric care. Therefore, the aim of the project "Assessment of the quality of routine ambulatory health care for common disorders in children and adolescents" (QualiPäd) funded by the Innovation Committee of the Federal Joint Committee (grant no.: 01VSF19035) was to develop a QI set for the diseases asthma, atopic eczema, otitis media, tonsillitis, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and conduct disorder.

[Does the Innovation Fund Improve Healthcare Provision? A Critical Assessment of the Status of Implementing Successful Innovation Fund Projects into Healthcare Practice].

Introduction: Since 2015, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA)'s Innovation Fund has been supporting projects in health services research and new health service models ("Neue Versorgungsformen", NVF). By the end of 2022, 211 projects in the NVF category had been funded. A key objective is the transfer of successful projects into standard care.

Potential determinants of the quantity and duration of COVID-19 outbreaks in geriatric long-term care facilities.

Background: We analyzed potential factors for the number and duration of COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes based on routine and structural data.

Methods: All outbreaks during 03/2020-01/2022 in N = 687 of a total of 879 geriatric long-term care facilities (LTCFs) in the Federal State of Hesse, Germany were analyzed using t-tests and logistic regressions in a retrospective cohort study.

Results: Larger LTCFs have more (+ 1.

COVID-19 risks in private equity nursing homes in Hesse, Germany - a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Private-equity-owned nursing homes (PENH) represent the strongest form of profit orientation in the nursing care market. Private equity firms aim to increase the profitability of nursing care facilities, which often leads to cost-cutting measures and the use of less qualified staff. Our study aims to fill the existing knowledge gap by examining the association between private equity ownership and COVID-19 related infections and deaths among residents and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exploring regional healthcare utilisation and quality of care for endometriosis in rural areas in Hesse, Germany: a mixed methods study protocol.

Introduction: The need of a regional healthcare monitoring in order to evaluate quality and utilisation of health services in smaller scale is internationally and in Germany well established. Little is known about variation in healthcare in rural German areas, especially for women's health. In particular, endometriosis is highly prevalent and known to be unsatisfactorily treated.

Impact of nursing home characteristics on COVID-19 infections among residents and staff.

Background: Excess mortality occurred in nursing homes during the SARS-CoV pandemic. This study aimed to identify risk factors for COVID-19 infection and mortality in nursing home residents and staff in Hesse, Germany.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 687 nursing homes was performed.

Associations between structure- and process-orientated measures and stroke long term mortality - an observational study based on routine data.

Objectives: Various measures are used to improve the quality of stroke care. In Germany, these include concentrating treatment in specialized facilities (stroke units), mandatory quality comparisons of hospitals in some German states, and treatment according to prespecified structure and process specifications (neurological complex treatment 8-981 or 8-98b). These measures have previously only been analyzed individually and regarding short-term patient outcomes.

Process over outcome quality in paediatrics? An analysis of outpatient healthcare quality indicators for seven common diseases.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the scope, quality dimensions and treatment aspects covered by existing quality indicators (QIs) for the somatic diseases bronchial asthma, atopic eczema, otitis media and tonsillitis as well as the psychiatric disorders attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and conduct disorder in paediatrics.

Methods: QIs were identified through an analysis of the guidelines and a systematic search of literature and indicator databases. Subsequently, two researchers independently assigned the QIs to the quality dimensions according to Donabedian and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and to the content categories covering the treatment process.

Association between continuity of care and treatment outcomes in psychiatric patients in Germany: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Continuity of care is considered an important treatment aspect of psychiatric disorders, as it often involves long-lasting or recurrent episodes with psychosocial treatment aspects. We investigated in two psychiatric hospitals in Germany whether the positive effects of relational continuity of care on symptom severity, social functioning, and quality of life, which have been demonstrated in different countries, can also be achieved in German psychiatric care.

Methods: Prospective cohort study with a 20-months observation period comparing 158 patients with higher and 165 Patients with lower degree of continuity of care of two psychiatric hospitals.

[People with intellectual disabilities (ID) in outpatient medical care: barriers to access and treatment process].

Background And Aim: People with intellectual disabilities (ID) show an increased morbidity. Their access to healthcare could be a contributing factor, but there is little data on this in Germany. This paper addresses the question of what barriers and facilitators exist in the use of medical outpatient healthcare for people with ID, considering their own perspective and the perspectives of their accompanying relatives and their general practitioners (GPs).

[Routine Practice Data for Health Care Analyses: Part 3 of the Manual].

Analyses of health and health care (hereafter referred to as "health care analyses") usually aim to make transparent the structures, processes, results and interrelationships of health care and to record the degree to which health care systems and their actors have achieved their goals. Health care-related data are an indispensable source of data for many health care analyses. A prerequisite for the examination of a degree of goal achievement is first of all an agreement on those goals that are to be achieved by the system and its substructures, as well as the identification of the determinants of the achievement of the objectives.

Long-term outcomes of stroke unit care in older stroke patients: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: older patients are less frequently treated in stroke units (SUs). Clinicians do not seem convinced that older patients benefit from specialised treatment in SU similarly to younger patients.

Objective: our study aimed to compare older patients' long-term outcomes with and without SU treatment.

[Biometric properties of QUALIFY: a tool for assessing quality indicators].

Introduction: Accurate health care evaluation using quality indicators (QIs) is of vital clinical importance for a quality-oriented health care system. The QUALIFY tool is the current research standard for assessing QIs of health care; however, its biometric properties in psychiatry have not yet been evaluated empirically. Our aim was to evaluate the internal consistency and structure of QUALIFY.

Assessing the effect of a regional integrated care model over ten years using quality indicators based on claims data - the basic statistical methodology of the INTEGRAL project.

Background: The regional integrated health care model "Healthy Kinzigtal" started in 2006 with the goal of optimizing health care and economic efficiency. The INTEGRAL project aimed at evaluating the effect of this model on the quality of care over the first 10 years.

Methods: This methodological protocol supplements the study protocol and the main publication of the project.

[Effects of statutory quality assurance in acute inpatient care].

Background: Statutory quality assurance (QA) serves to ensure and further develop the quality of service provision. Particularly prominent in Germany's acute inpatient care are mandatory quality reports (QRs) and participation in external quality assessments (eQAs). Their effects have not yet been comprehensively evaluated.

[Specialization of Acute Stroke Care in Germany: Structural Changes During 2006-2017].

Hintergrund: Um die Schlaganfallversorgung zu optimieren, wurden in Deutschland in den letzten Jahren verschiedene qualitätsfördernde Maßnahmen (qfM) in regional unterschiedlichem Maß eingeführt. Ob sich diese Maßnahmen über die Jahre flächendeckend etabliert haben, ist unklar.

Methode: Für die strukturbezogenen Analysen der Schlaganfallversorgung in Deutschland wurden alle relevanten dokumentierten Schlaganfälle (ICD-10) aus den Qualitätsberichten (QB) deutscher Krankenhäuser und eine repräsentative Stichprobe von Krankenversicherungsdaten (AOK) im Zeitraum von 2006 (QB)/2007 (AOK) bis 2017 verwendet.