Information needs in day-to-day operations management in hospital units: A cross-sectional national survey.

Aim: To describe and compare shift leaders' important information needs by profession, unit, time of day and type of hospital.

Background: Professionals responsible for care provision in hospital units make ad hoc decisions about available resources to meet patient care needs but, currently, much effort is needed to obtain the necessary information to support decision making.

Methods: This survey was carried out in nine randomly chosen hospitals in Finland.

Acute pain intensity monitoring with the classification of multiple physiological parameters.

Current acute pain intensity assessment tools are mainly based on self-reporting by patients, which is impractical for non-communicative, sedated or critically ill patients. In previous studies, various physiological signals have been observed qualitatively as a potential pain intensity index. On the basis of that, this study aims at developing a continuous pain monitoring method with the classification of multiple physiological parameters.

Subcutaneously administered dexmedetomidine is efficiently absorbed and is associated with attenuated cardiovascular effects in healthy volunteers.

Purpose: Palliative care patients often need sedation to alleviate intractable anxiety, stress, and pain. Dexmedetomidine is used for sedation of intensive care patients, but there is no prior information on its subcutaneous (SC) administration, a route that would be favored in palliative care. We compared the pharmacokinetics and cardiovascular, sympatholytic, and sedative effects of SC and intravenously (IV) administered dexmedetomidine in healthy volunteers.

Assessing managerial information needs: Modification and evaluation of the Hospital Shift Leaders' Information Needs Questionnaire.

Aims: The aims were (1) to evaluate the modified version of the Intensive Care Unit Information Need Questionnaire for the broader hospital setting, and (2) to describe the differences in respondents' managerial activities and information needs according to the position held by the respondent and the type of hospital unit.

Background: Information systems do not support managerial decision-making sufficiently and information needed in the day-to-day operations management in hospital units is unknown.

Methods: An existing questionnaire was modified and evaluated.

Prevalence of life-supporting prolonged invasive ventilation support in Finland.

Background: There is no comprehensive data in our country on the prevalence of life-supporting prolonged invasive ventilation support. The objective of the survey was to clarify in all hospital districts of continental Finland the prevalence of patients who were dependent on invasive ventilation support, and the disease leading to the treatment.

Patients And Methods: The KOTIVEHNO 2015 survey was carried out as population-based cross-sectional study by sending a questionnaire to all doctors in charge of prolonged invasive ventilation support.