Coronary heart disease is currently the leading cause of death globally, and is expected to account for 14.2% of all deaths by 2030. The emergence of novel technologies from cardiothoracic surgery and interventional cardiology are welcome developments in the light of an overwhelming chronic disease burden. However, as these complementary yet often competing disciplines rely on expensive technologies, hastily prepared resource plans threaten to consume a substantial proportion of limited healthcare resources. By describing procedural and professional trends as well as current and emerging technologies, this review aims to provide useful knowledge to help managers make informed decisions for the planning of cardiovascular disease management. Since their inception, developments in both specialties have been very rapid. Owing to differences in patient characteristics, interventions and outcomes, results of studies comparing cardiothoracic surgery and interventional cardiology have been conflicting. Outcomes for both specialties continue to improve through the years. Despite the persistent demand for coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) as a rescue procedure following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), there is a widening gap between the numbers of PCI and CABG. Procedural volumes seem to have affected career choices of physicians. Emerging technologies from both disciplines are eagerly awaited by the medical community. For long-term planning of both disciplines, conventional health technology assessment methods are of limited use due to their rapid developments. In the absence of established prediction tools, planners should tap alternative sources of evidence such as changes in disease epidemiology, procedural volumes, horizon scan reports as well as trends in disease outcomes.
Cardiology ; trends ; Decision Making ; Humans ; Internationality ; Thoracic Surgery ; trends

INTRODUCTIONOver the years, surveys have become powerful tools for assessing a wide range of outcomes among patients. Healthcare managers and professionals now consider patient satisfaction as an outcome by itself. This study aims to determine if results of a patient satisfaction survey are affected by the manner by which the survey instrument is administered.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA patient satisfaction survey was conducted from May 2006 to October 2007 in a tertiary level acute care facility. All patients admitted to the observation unit during the study period were invited to participate. Using a contextualized version of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospital Survey, data was collected through either a phone interview, face to face interview or self-administered questionnaire. Each of these survey modes was administered during 3 different phases within the study period.

RESULTSEight hundred thirty-two (832) patients were included in the survey. Based on results of univariate analysis, out of the 18 questions, responses to 11 (61.1%) were related to survey mode. Face-to-face interview resulted in the greatest proportion of socially desirable responses (72.7%), while phone interview yielded the highest proportion of socially undesirable responses (63.3%). After controlling for possible confounders, logistic regression results showed that responses to 55.6% of the questions were affected by survey mode. Variations in response between phone interview and self-administered questionnaire accounted for 87.5% of the observed differences.

CONCLUSIONSResearchers must be aware that the choice of survey method has serious implications on results of patient satisfaction surveys.

Adult ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Health Care Surveys ; methods ; Hospitals ; standards ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Patient Satisfaction ; Quality Assurance, Health Care ; Singapore ; Young Adult

INTRODUCTIONVenous thromboembolism (VTE), including its most serious clinical subtype, pulmonary embolism (PE), is a potentially preventable disease. While current assessment tools do not include ethnicity as a risk factor, studies suggest that Asians have lower risk of VTE compared to Caucasians. This study aims to describe 2006 in-hospital and projected population based incidence rates of VTE and PE in Singapore.

MATERIALS AND METHODSData on 2006 admissions at 3 major NHG hospitals, cases of VTE and their demographics were obtained from the ODS, a large administrative database of the National Healthcare Group (NHG). Demographic characteristics of the 2006 Singapore resident population were obtained from the 2006 Singapore Statistics website.

RESULTSIn 2006, there were 860 cases of VTE out of 98,121 admissions in these 3 hospitals. Overall and secondary VTE age adjusted in-hospital burden was 73 and 54 per 10,000 patients, respectively. Caucasians and Eurasians had VTE rates in excess of 100 per 10,000 while Chinese, Malays and Indians each had rates below 100 per 10,000. Assuming that 42.5% of the 2006 Singapore population was served by NHG, the estimated population-based incidence of VTE and PE is 57 and 15 per 100,000, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSAs patterns across ethnic groups point to lower VTE rates among Asians compared to Caucasians and Eurasians, analytic studies should be considered to test this hypothesis. There may be a need to develop locally applicable risk assessment tools which can be used to support local guidelines for VTE prophylaxis, thus leading to more acceptable and cost-effective care.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Databases, Factual ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Inpatients ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Embolism ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; Singapore ; epidemiology ; Venous Thromboembolism ; epidemiology ; ethnology ; prevention & control ; Young Adult

INTRODUCTION: Hip fractures in elderly people are increasing. A five-year Integrated Hip Fracture Care Pathway (IHFCP) was implemented at our hospital for seamlessly integrating care for these patients from admission to post discharge. We aimed to evaluate how IHFCP improved process and outcome measures in these patients. METHODS: A study was conducted over a five-year period on patients with acute fragility hip fracture who were managed on IHFCP. The evaluation utilised a descriptive design, with outcomes analysed separately for each of the five years of the programme. First-year results were treated as baseline. RESULTS: The main improvements in process and outcome measures over five years, when compared to baseline, were: (a) increase in surgeries performed within 48 hours of admission from 32.5% to 80.1%; (b) reduced non-operated patients from 19.6% to 11.9%; (c) reduced average length of stay at acute hospital among surgically (from 14.0 ± 12.3 days to 9.9 ± 1.0 days) and conservatively managed patients (from 19.1 ± 22.9 to 11.0 ± 2.5 days); (d) reduced 30-day readmission rate from 3.2% to 1.6%; and (e) improved Modified Functional Assessment Classification of VI to VII at six months from 48.0% to 78.2%. CONCLUSION The IHFCP is a standardised care path that can reduce time to surgery, average length of stay and readmission rates. It is distinct from other orthogeriatric care models, with its ability to provide optimal care coordination, early transfer to community hospitals and post-discharge day rehabilitation services. Consequently, it helped to optimise patients' functional status and improved their overall outcome.
Humans ; Aged ; Critical Pathways ; Aftercare ; Patient Discharge ; Treatment Outcome ; Hip Fractures/surgery* ; Length of Stay ; Retrospective Studies