An intervention program to reduce the number of hospitalizations of elderly patients in a primary care clinic

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The elderly population consumes a large share of medical resources in the western world. A significant portion of the expense is related to hospitalizations.</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>To evaluate an intervention program designed to reduce the number of hospitalization of elderly patients by a more optimal allocation of resources in primary care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A multidimensional intervention program was conducted that included the re-engineering of existing work processes with a focus on the management of patient problems, improving communication with outside agencies, and the establishment of a system to monitor quality of healthcare parameters. Data on the number of hospitalizations and their cost were compared before and after implementation of the intervention program.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As a result of the intervention the mean expenditure per elderly patient was reduced by 22.5%. The adjusted number of hospitalizations/1,000 declined from 15.1 to 10.7 (29.3%). The number of adjusted hospitalization days dropped from 132 to 82 (37.9%) and the mean hospitalization stay declined from 8.2 to 6.7 days (17.9%). The adjusted hospitalization cost ($/1,000 patients) dropped from$32,574 to $18,624 (42.8%). The overall clinic expense, for all age groups, dropped by 9.9%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Implementation of the intervention program in a single primary care clinic led to a reduction in hospitalizations for the elderly patient population and to a more optimal allocation of healthcare resources.</p

Visual determination of malachite green in sea fish samples

Polymethylmethacrylate matrix has been developed as an analytical device for visual and spectrophotometric determination of malachite green. Based on the studied effects of different pH levels, temperature, contact time and diverse ions, optimum analysis conditions have been established. For malachite green, the calibration graph was linear in the range of 0.5-30 mg·L-1 in the samples with the detection limit of 1 mg·kg-1. The proposed simple method makes it possible to determine malachite green visually in the concentration range 8-30 mg·L-1 using a colour scale. The method has been implemented for determination of malachite green in various sea fish samples

Exploration of structural, vibrational and spectroscopic properties of self-activated orthorhombic double molybdate RbEu(MoO4)2 with isolated MoO4 units

RbEu(MoO4)2 is synthesized by the two-step solid state reaction method. The crystal structure of RbEu(MoO4)2 is defined by Rietveld analysis in space group Pbcn with cell parameters a=5.13502(5), b=18.8581(2) and c=8.12849(7) Å, V=787.13(1) Å3, Z=4 (RB=0.86%). This molybdate possesses its phase transition at 817 K and melts at 1250K. The Raman spectra were measured with the excitation at =1064 and 514.5nm. The photoluminescence spectrum is evaluated under the excitation at 514.5nm. The absolute domination of hypersensitive 5D0→7F2 transition is observed. The ultranarrow 5D0→7F0 transition in RbEu(MoO4)2 is positioned at 580.2nm being 0.2nm blue shifted, with respect to that in Eu2(MoO4)3