How do patients perceive electronic documentation at the bedside?

Electronic patient records provide an opportunity for real-time access to patient information at the bedside, which has the potential to improve healthcare quality because it would increase efficiency and facilitate best practice. Patients in this study reported that portable computers used at the bedside did not affect the clinician-patient relationship. Many patients thought that the technology was a valuable tool and that it could foster an efficient hospital atmosphere and promote reliable and accurate medical documentation.

Pain, health-related quality of life and health care utilization after inpatient surgery: a pilot study.

Background: Little is known about pain-related outcomes in surgical inpatients after discharge from the hospital. An ongoing risk and outcomes monitoring system would provide valuable feedback to improve the quality of patient care.

Objectives: The purpose of the present pilot study was to describe postoperative pain, medication use, health care utilization and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) immediately and four weeks after surgery; merge clinically captured data with Web-based follow-up data; and examine patients' willingness to complete Web-based health questionnaires.

Unnecessary irradiation to non-thoracic structures during pediatric chest radiography.

Background: Recent reports have indicated that infants and young children have a higher sensitivity than older children and adults to radiation exposure and the potential for harmful side effects.

Objective: To determine whether the present landmarks used in film positioning result in unnecessary radiation to non-thoracic structures on chest radiographs in the pediatric and neonatal population.

Materials And Methods: Chest radiographs of 195 pediatric patients and 149 neonates were analyzed for extent of radiation field to non-thoracic regions.