Assessing the impact of DRGs on patient care and professional practice in Switzerland (IDoC) - a potential model for monitoring and evaluating healthcare reform.

Questions Under Study: The starting point of the interdisciplinary project "Assessing the impact of diagnosis related groups (DRGs) on patient care and professional practice" (IDoC) was the lack of a systematic ethical assessment for the introduction of cost containment measures in healthcare. Our aim was to contribute to the methodological and empirical basis of such an assessment.

Methods: Five sub-groups conducted separate but related research within the fields of biomedical ethics, law, nursing sciences and health services, applying a number of complementary methodological approaches.

Monitoring the impact of the DRG payment system on nursing service context factors in Swiss acute care hospitals: Study protocol.

Aims: With this study protocol, a research program is introduced. Its overall aim is to prepare the instruments and to conduct the first monitoring of nursing service context factors at three university and two cantonal hospitals in Switzerland prior to the introduction of the reimbursement system based on Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) and to further develop a theoretical model as well as a methodology for future monitoring following the introduction of DRGs.

Background: DRG was introduced to all acute care hospitals in Switzerland in 2012.

[Renal transplanted adolescents' perception of the relationship to the interdisciplinary health care team].

Various studies have demonstrated that the experience of a supportive relationship improves adherence of chronically ill adolescents. Their experience of the professional relationship in the context of the interdisciplinary treatment setting is still rarely investigated. The aim of this descriptive cross-sectional study in adolescents with renal transplant was to explore how they experience the relationship to the exponents of the different professionals of the health care team.

[Nursing needs of renal transplanted adolescents, a descriptive cross sectional study in a Swiss hospital].

Various studies have demonstrated that the five-year graft survival of adolescents after renal transplantation is significantly lower than in children. This may be due to poor adherence to the post-transplant regime in adolescents. It has been shown that nurses can provide support to renal transplanted adolescents with positive effects on their adherence.

[Reliability and validity of the german language version of the "NCCPC-R"].

The "Non-Communicating Children's Pain Checklist Revised" (NCCPC-R) is designed for pain assessment with cognitively impaired children and adolescents, who cannot express pain consciously and adequately, either verbally or non-verbally. The aim of this methodological pilot study is to collect information about the psychometric properties of the German language NCCPC-R version. Professional caregivers of 24 children and adolescents, hospitalised in a rehabilitation centre in the German speaking part of Switzerland, collected 187 measurements in episodes without pain and 62 measurements in episodes with pain.