Where Skilled Nursing Facility Residents Get Acute Care: Is the Emergency Department the Medical Home?

Objectives: This study aimed to characterize the distribution of acute care visits among Medicare beneficiaries receiving skilled nursing facility (SNF) services.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a 20% sample of continuously enrolled Medicare beneficiaries in the 2012 Chronic Condition Warehouse data set. Beneficiaries were grouped by the number of days of SNF services, and acute care visits were categorized as "before SNF," "during SNF," or "after SNF.

China Patient-centered Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events Prospective Study of Acute Myocardial Infarction: Study Design.

Background: Despite the rapid growth in the incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in China, there is limited information about patients' experiences after AMI hospitalization, especially on long-term adverse events and patient-reported outcomes (PROs).

Methods: The China Patient-centered Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events (PEACE)-Prospective AMI Study will enroll 4000 consecutive AMI patients from 53 diverse hospitals across China and follow them longitudinally for 12 months to document their treatment, recovery, and outcomes. Details of patients' medical history, treatment, and in-hospital outcomes are abstracted from medical charts.

The serum glucan level and pathological changes of antifungal treatment for lower respiratory tract infection of Candida albicans.

Due to the fact that Candida albicans colonizes in the upper respiratory tracts of healthy people, whether or not its isolation from airway secretions is sufficient to warrant treatment remains controversial. The animal models of immunosuppressive rats with pulmonary candidiasis were established by the intratracheal inoculating suspensions of C. albicans, and the animals were divided into the following three groups: (1) antifungal treatment group, (2) saline control group, and (3) blank control group.

Patients with depressive symptoms have lower health status benefits after coronary artery bypass surgery.

Background: Depression is an established independent prognostic factor for mortality, readmission, and cardiac events after CABG surgery. However, limited data exist on whether depression influences functional outcomes after CABG.

Methods And Results: We followed 963 patients who underwent first CABG between February 1999 and February 2001.

Social support as a predictor of participation in cardiac rehabilitation after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Purpose: Cardiac rehabilitation promotes recovery and enhances quality of life after a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), but participation in such rehabilitation is low. The role of social support in promoting participation has been suggested by prior studies, but is not clearly defined. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of social support as an independent predictor of participation in cardiac rehabilitation.

Sex differences in health status after coronary artery bypass surgery.

Background: Although previous studies have shown functional improvements in patients who undergo coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, data are conflicting on whether the gains achieved by women are similar to or less than those achieved by men.

Methods And Results: We compared physical and psychological functional gains and readmission rates between 777 men and 295 women who underwent first CABG consecutively between February 1999 and February 2001. Physical function and mental health were measured by means of the Short Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36).

Gender differences in recovery after coronary artery bypass surgery.

Objectives: This study was designed to examine whether female gender is associated with poorer recovery after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

Background: The risks and benefits associated with CABG surgery in women are not as well established as they are in men, and there are concerns that women may have worse outcomes. The recovery period after CABG (the first four to eight weeks after the surgery) is a vulnerable time, with higher risks of complications and hospital readmission.