5 research outputs found
Evaluating compulsory minimum volume standards in Germany: how many hospitals were compliant in 2004?
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Minimum hospital procedure volumes are discussed as an instrument for quality assurance. In 2004 Germany introduced such annual minimum volumes nationwide on five surgical procedures: kidney, liver, stem cell transplantation, complex oesophageal, and pancreatic interventions. The present investigation is the first part of a study evaluating the effects of these minimum volumes on health care provision. Research questions address how many hospitals and cases were affected by minimum volume regulations in 2004, how affected hospitals were distributed according to minimum volumes, and how many hospitals within the 16 German states complied with the standards set for 2004.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The evaluation is based on the mandatory hospital quality reports for 2004. In the reports, all hospitals are statutorily obliged to state the number of procedures performed for each minimum volume. The data were analyzed descriptively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 2004, 485 out of 1710 German hospitals providing acute care and approximately 0.14% of all hospital cases were affected by minimum volume regulations. Liver, kidney, and stem cell transplantation affected from 23 to hospitals; complex oesophageal and pancreatic interventions affected from 297 to 455 hospitals. The inter-state comparison of the average hospital care area demonstrates large differences between city states and large area states and the eastern and western German states ranging from a minimum 51 km<sup>2 </sup>up to a maximum 23.200 km<sup>2</sup>, varying according to each procedure. A range of 9% – 16% of the transplantation hospitals did not comply with the standards affecting 1% – 2% of the patients whereas 29% and 18% of the hospitals treating complex oesophageal and pancreatic interventions failed the standards affecting 2% – 5% of the prevailing cases.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In 2004, the newly introduced minimum volume regulations affected only up to a quarter of German acute care hospitals and few cases. However, excluding the hospitals not meeting the minimum volume standards from providing the respective procedures deserves considering two aspects: the hospital health care provision concepts by the German states as being responsible and from a patient perspective the geographically equal access to hospital care.</p
Motivos da ação do redutor de danos junto ao usuário de drogas: um estudo fenomenológico
Piglets Born from Sows Fed High Fibre Diets during Pregnancy Are Less Aggressive Prior to Weaning
Perinatal exposure to a diet high in saturated fat, refined sugar and cholesterol affects behaviour, growth, and feed intake in weaned piglets
The increased consumption of diets high in saturated fats and refined
sugars is a major public health concern in Western human societies.
Recent studies suggest that perinatal exposure to dietary fat and/or
sugar may affect behavioural development. We thus investigated the
effects of perinatal exposure to a high-fat high-sugar diet (HFS) on
behavioural development and production performance of piglets.
Thirty-two non-obese sows and their piglets were allocated to 1 of 4
treatments in a 2 x 2 factorial design, with 8-week prenatal (gestation)
and 8-week postnatal (lactation and post-weaning) exposure to a HFS diet
(12% saturated fat, 18.5% sucrose, 1% cholesterol) or control low-fat
low-sugar high-starch diets as factors. From weaning onwards (4 weeks of
age), piglets were housed in group of 3 littermates (n = 8
groups/treatment) and fed ad libitum. After the end of the dietary
intervention (8 weeks of age), all the piglets were fed a standard
commercial diet. Piglet behaviours in the home pens were scored, and
skin lesions, growth, feed intake and feed efficiency were measured up
to 8 weeks after the end of the dietary treatment, i.e. until 16 weeks
of age. At the end of the dietary treatment (8 weeks of age), response
to novelty was assessed in a combined open field and novel object test
(OFT/NOT). During the weeks following weaning, piglets fed the postnatal
HFS diet tended to be less aggressive (p = 0.06), but exhibited more
oral manipulation of pen mates (p = 0.05) than controls. Compared to
controls, piglets fed the prenatal or postnatal HFS diet walked more in
the home pen (p <= 0.05), and tended to have fewer skin lesions (p <
0.10). Several behavioural effects of the postnatal HFS diet depended on
the prenatal diet, with piglets subjected to a switch of diet at birth
being more active, and exploring feeding materials, pen mates, and the
environment more than piglets that remained on the same diet. Behaviours
during the OFT/NOT were not affected by the diet. The intake of the
postnatal HFS diet drastically reduced feed intake, but improved feed
efficiency up to 8 weeks after the end of the dietary intervention, i.e.
16 weeks of age (p < 0.0001 for both). Our study highlights the key role
of prenatal and postnatal nutritional interactions for early behavioural
development, and reveals programming effects of early life nutrition on
voluntary feed intake of piglets later in life