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The purpose of this paper is to predict hospital respiratory system infection rate by using the gray GM(1,1) model, and to provide theoretical basis for the prospective study on hospital respiratory system infection management.

The annual respiratory system infection rate of a comprehensive third-class hospital in Yan’an is collected from 2011 to 2017. The GM(1,1) model is used for prediction, and mean absolute percentage error is used to evaluate the prediction accuracy of the model.

GM(1,1) statistical prediction model is established with good fitting degree and high reliability of extrapolation prediction.

The GM(1,1) model can well predict the respiratory system infection rate of the hospital.

This study aims to investigate the physical environmental problems of two Thai community hospitals’ outpatient departments (OPDs) during the COVID-19 outbreak and to provide design guidelines for respiratory disease prevention.

A three-step method was used. The first step involved walk-through observations at Mae Wang Hospital and Doi Saket Hospital to assess the physical environment. The second step consisted of interviews with 22 medical staff working in the two hospitals. Third, the observation and interview data were used to develop a preliminary design guideline, which was evaluated by two focus groups comprising the same interview participants.

The observational findings showed that the two hospitals had difficulties following the COVID-19 prevention protocol due to physical environmental problems. Four different themes emerged from the analysis of the medical staff interviews. The preliminary design guidelines that were evaluated through two focus group discussions resulted in design recommendations for four areas (the overall building, clinical, support and staff areas) in the Mae Wang and Doi Saket OPD buildings. Three topics of design recommendations were provided to reduce the spread of COVID-19: improving hospital management, space design and air quality.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide design guidelines for COVID-19 and respiratory disease prevention in Thai community hospital OPD buildings.

Hospitals throughout the USA are facing increasing patient demand and employee shortages. This capacity issue has led to understaffing in some hospital areas. The purpose of this paper is to examine the understaffing in hospital-unit respiratory care and the impact to error rates, specifically missed treatments rates. The moderating effects of teamwork and standardized, integrated information systems are also considered.

Survey methodology is used for data collection of respiratory care managers within hospital units. Regression is used to test the hypotheses in this study.

The regression results show that higher rates of understaffing are associated with more missed treatments. In addition, both teamwork and integrated information systems are associated with lower missed treatments. Finally, the moderating effect of teamwork is also highly significant within the model while integrated information systems are not a significant moderator.

Managers working within understaffed hospital units can try to reduce missed treatment rates by both integrated information systems and teamwork among employees. Additional benefits can be gained from teamwork due to the indirect effects (moderating effects) as well. This indicates teamwork training can be useful for quality initiatives.

Understaffing is associated with higher missed treatments in hospital units. Standardized, integrated information systems within a hospital are associated with less missed treatments. Furthermore, employee teamwork within a hospital unit is associated with a direct effect on missed treatment rates as well as an indirect effect by weakening the negative impact of understaffing.

Prisons can be epicentres of infectious diseases. However, empirical evidence on the impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in prison is still scarce. This study aims to estimate the seroprevalence rates of anti-SARS-CoV-2 in the largest and most crowded Swiss prison and compare them with the seroprevalence rate in the general population.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in June 2020, one month after the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 in Switzerland. Groups included: people living in detention (PLDs) detained before the beginning of the pandemic (n = 116), PLDs incarcerated after the beginning of the pandemic (n = 61), prison staff and prison healthcare workers (n = 227) and a sample from the general population in the same time period (n = 3,404). The authors assessed anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies.

PLDs who were incarcerated before the beginning of the pandemic had a significantly lower seroprevalence rate [0.9%, confidence interval (CI)95%: 0.1%–5.9%] compared to the general population (6.3%, CI 95%: 5.6–7.3%) (p = 0.041). The differences between PLDs who were incarcerated before and other groups were marginally significant (PLDs incarcerated after the beginning of the pandemic: 6.6%, CI 95%: 2.5%–16.6%, p = 0.063; prison staff CI 95%: 4.8%, 2.7%–8.6%, p = 0.093). The seroprevalence of prison staff was only slightly and non-significantly lower than that of the general population.

During the first wave, despite overcrowding and interaction with the community, the prison was not a hotspot of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Preventive measures probably helped avoiding clusters of infection. The authors suggest that preventive measures that impact social welfare could be relaxed when overall circulation in the community is low to prevent the negative impact of isolation.

We study changes in age-specific diabetes-related mortality and annual health care utilization. We find that half of the estimated 16% increase of diabetic mortality falls within employable age groups. We estimate that disease combination-specific increase in case fatality has resulted in premature diabetic mortality costing $3.2 billion annually. The estimated annual direct cost of treating high-risk diabetics reaches $36 billion, of which Medicare and Other Federal Programs compensate 54%. Respiratory conditions among diabetics comprise the same proportion of high-risk diabetics as do the disease combinations including coronary heart diseases. Treating of general diabetic conditions has become more efficient as indicated by the estimated declines in per unit health care costs.

This paper report the effectiveness of a nursing quality assurance program over three years, which demonstrates improvement in the incidence and severity of post‐operative clean wound infections and the associated extended length of hospital stay and cost. General surgery categories included cardiovascular, orthopaedic, neurosurgery, kidney, abdominal, mammary and other. Cardiovascular categories included coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), heart transplant, and atrial valve replacement. Hip replacement and total knee replacement procedures were included in the orthopaedic category. Additional length of stay and concomitant hospital costs were calculated. Results show that early reporting of observations and implementation of appropriate treatment will decrease the incidence, severity and associated costs of post‐operative clean wound infections.

The years following the 9/11/2001 terrorists attacks saw a marked increase in community and hospital emergency preparedness, from communications across community networks, development of policies and procedures, to attainment and training in the use of biological warfare resources. Regular drills ensured emergency and health care personnel were trained and prepared to address the next large-scale crisis, especially from terrorist and bioterrorist attacks. This chapter looks at some of the more familiar global health issues over the past two decades and the lessons learned from hospital responses to inform hospital management in preparation for future incidents.

This study is a narrative review of the literature related to lessons learned from four major events in the time period from 2002 to 2023 – SARS, MERS, Ebola, and COVID-19.

The initial search yielded 25,913 articles; 57 articles were selected for inclusion in the study.

Comparison of key issues and lessons learned among the four major events described in this article – SARS, MERS, Ebola, and COVID-19 – highlight that several lessons are “relearned” with each event. Other key issues, such as supply shortages, staffing availability, and hospital capacity to simultaneously provide care to noninfectious patients came to the forefront during the COVID-19 pandemic. A primary, ongoing concern for hospitals is how to maintain their preparedness given competing priorities, resources, and staff time. This concern remains post-COVID-19.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a major cause of concern because of the high levels of associated morbidity, mortality, and cost. In addition, children and intensive care unit (ICU) patients are more vulnerable to these infections due to low levels of immunity. Various medical interventions and statistical process control techniques have been suggested to counter the spread of these infections and aid early detection of an infection outbreak. Methods such as hand hygiene help in the prevention of HAIs and are well-documented in the literature. This chapter demonstrates the utilization of a systems methodology to model and validate factors that contribute to the risk of HAIs in a pediatric ICU. It proposes an approach that has three unique aspects: it studies the problem of HAIs as a whole by focusing on several HAIs instead of a single type, it projects the effects of interventions onto the general patient population using the system-level model, and it studies both medical and behavioral interventions and compares their effectiveness. This methodology uses a systems modeling framework that includes simulation, risk analysis, and statistical techniques for studying interventions to reduce the transmission likelihood of HAIs.

This paper aims to examine the policy and guidance that was issued, either as a direct result of the NHS Plan, or part of a subsequent initiative, surrounding cleaning in the NHS.

A literature review of the Department of Health and related agency web sites was completed. In addition there was a literature review of the relevant academic journals.

There is a growing evidence base on environmental cleaning in the NHS and more specifically the relationship between environmental cleaning and infection control. This paper has examined the contradiction in the evidence in the suspected correlation between infection control and environmental cleaning. However, one thing that does appear to be consistent is that a performance measure based on an observation (visual) assessment is not a sufficient tool to evaluate the environmental cleanliness of a hospital ward.

While the clinical community recognise the contribution of environmental cleaning and the impact on healthcare, more needs to be done to have the relevant studies published in the FM domain. Conversely there also needs to be work done to allow the FM community to have a “voice” in the infection control journals. The literature reviewed suggests that a usable technological solution is required to confirm satisfactory cleaning standards in healthcare facilities.

There is relatively little published work on the importance of cleaning to operations in the NHS, particularly in the FM domain.

Context. The most advanced and fastest growing form of bariatric surgery is laparoscopic gastric bypass. Very little is known about population-based 180-day laparoscopic bypass costs, complication rates, readmission rates, and post-operative care.

Objective. To examine the 6-month costs and outcomes of laparoscopic vs. open bariatric bypass surgery using a national population-based sample.

Design. We use the 1998–2003 Nationwide Inpatient Sample to examine national trends in the rate of laparoscopic bypass. To examine post-operative outcomes, we examine insurance claims for 2,384 bariatric bypass surgeries, at 308 hospitals, among a population of 5.6 million non-elderly people covered by large employers across 49 states in 2001 and 2002. Multivariate logit regression analysis is performed to risk-adjust outcomes.

Main Outcome Measures. 180-day outcomes: 12 complications specific to bariatric surgery and 44 general post-operative conditions, readmission rates, ER rates, and expenditures following bariatric surgery.

Results. Between 1998 and 2003, the national percentage of bariatric bypass surgeries that were laparoscopic grew from 1.5 to 17.1%. There was no significant difference in in-hospital mortality between laparoscopy and open surgery. With the 2001–2002 claims data, we find that of the patients having bypass surgery, men had 48% lower odds of having laparoscopy and that high bariatric volume hospitals were close to four times more likely to use laparoscopy. Laparoscopic bypass, compared with open bypass, had 34% lower odds of a complication during the initial surgical stay, 27% lower odds of a 30-day complication, but no statistically significant difference in 180-day complications. Laparoscopy had 49% higher odds of having the general 44 post-operative conditions, with 45% higher odds of a readmission and 54% higher odds of an ER visit. However, overall, laparoscopy resulted in a 23% lower number of hospital days and 9% lower 180-day expenditures.

Conclusion. The laparoscopic cost-savings during the less invasive initial surgery stay outweigh the increase in post-discharge utilization. Further cost-savings will only emerge from laparoscopy only if its late post-operative complications are reduced. More cost-savings will also emerge as more physicians switch to the use of laparoscopy for bypass surgery.