Variation in annual volume at a university hospital does not predict mortality for pancreatic resections.

Annual volume of pancreatic resections has been shown to affect mortality rates, prompting recommendations to regionalize these procedures to high-volume hospitals. Implementation has been difficult, given the paucity of high-volume centers and the logistical hardships facing patients. Some studies have shown that low-volume hospitals achieve good outcomes as well, suggesting that other factors are involved. We sought to determine whether variations in annual volume affected patient outcomes in 511 patients who underwent pancreatic resections at the University of California, San Francisco between 1990 and 2005. We compared postoperative mortality and complication rates between low, medium, or high volume years, designated by the number of resections performed, adjusting for patient characteristics. Postoperative mortality rates did not differ between high volume years and medium/low volume years. As annual hospital volume of pancreatic resections may not predict outcome, identification of actual predictive factors may allow low-volume centers to achieve excellent outcomes

Variation in annual volume at a university hospital does not predict mortality for pancreatic resections.

Annual volume of pancreatic resections has been shown to affect mortality rates, prompting recommendations to regionalize these procedures to high-volume hospitals. Implementation has been difficult, given the paucity of high-volume centers and the logistical hardships facing patients. Some studies have shown that low-volume hospitals achieve good outcomes as well, suggesting that other factors are involved. We sought to determine whether variations in annual volume affected patient outcomes in 511 patients who underwent pancreatic resections at the University of California, San Francisco between 1990 and 2005. We compared postoperative mortality and complication rates between low, medium, or high volume years, designated by the number of resections performed, adjusting for patient characteristics. Postoperative mortality rates did not differ between high volume years and medium/low volume years. As annual hospital volume of pancreatic resections may not predict outcome, identification of actual predictive factors may allow low-volume centers to achieve excellent outcomes

The relationship between traditional dress and bacterial contamination in the hospital setting-a cross sectional study

Background/Introduction: Healthcare worker uniforms are a potential reservoir for microorganisms, and thus contaminated dress may transmit pathogenic organisms in hospital settings. This study aims at isolating the bacteria from traditional dresses used in a tertiary care hospital, Saudi Arabia, and compares them with whitecoat. Also, this study explores the relationship between bacterial contamination and type of department, type of provider specialty, and dress textile material. Methods: A Descriptive Analytic cross-sectional study was conducted. Multiple culture swabs were obtained from these traditional dresses and whitecoats of the healthcare workers and were analyzed for the rate of bacterial contamination. This study also compares the bacterial contamination rates between medical workers and non-medical personnel like the administrative staff. A Sample size of 742 swabs from 139 participants,from multiple sites was obtained.Data analysis was presented as mean± SD, or as median and range according to the type of distribution of each variable. The Chi-square test was used to test for the association and/or difference between two categorical variables and p-value for statistical significance. Results: It was seen that bacterial contamination of 29.7% was seen in traditional dress compared to 22.5% of those wearing Whitecoat. Concerning the type of traditional dress, the highest rate of bacterial contamination was observed with Thop (40%), followed by Niqab (36.1%). Regarding the source textile material, the mixed type had the highest rate of bacterial contamination (35.7%). Conclusion: The traditional dress showed to be higher in the rate of bacterial contamination in comparison to whitecoats. Also, we found that the type of department and type provider specialty concerning bacterial contamination has a no different effect when compared to others. in our results, the administrative staff carries the same results as healthcare workers regarding bacterial contamination highlighting that they can share in the risk of bacterial transmission