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This paper presents the findings of a survey of television advertisements broadcast on French and UK television channels. The findings show that advertisements which have elements common to both countries are still very much the minority. An analysis of the underlying spirit of national and partially standardised advertisements highlighted the difference in advertising styles between the two countries. UK advertisements continue to rely on humour or straightforward information, where their French counterparts rely on a dreamlike advertising style. These differences appear to be rooted in the individual national cultures and would seem to preclude the possibility of standardised cross‐cultural advertising for the majority of products in the short‐term.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether process quality indicators for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) one associated with outcome indicators (hospital mortality and early readmission).

A retrospective cohort study was conducted among patients discharged from three Swiss university hospitals with a primary or secondary International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD‐10) AMI code in 1999. A total of 1,129 patients' records were abstructed. Demographic characteristics and risk factors at admission were recorded. The main ECG and laboratory findings were further abstracted as well as hospital and discharge management and treatment. The main outcome measure was process quality indicators derived from evidence‐based guidelines, and hospital mortality and early readmissions.

After exclusions, 577 patients with AMI were eligible for this study. The mean (SD) age was 68.2 (13.9). In the assessment of quality indicators patients with potential contra‐indications were excluded. Among cohorts of “ideal candidates” for specific interventions, aspirin was not prescribed within 24 hours after admission in 33 (6.2 percent) patients. Among those, 17 (51.5 percent) died (p<0.0001). The adjusted OR for no aspirin after admission was 3.61 (95 percent CI 1.11‐11.77) for hospital mortality. Further, 78 (19.5 percent) patients did not receive β‐blockers at discharge. Among them nine (11.5 percent) were readmitted (p=0.133). The adjusted OR for no β‐blockers at discharge was 2.15 (95 percent CI 0.86‐5.41) for readmissions. Among patients with AMI, not prescribing aspirin within 24 hours after admission was associated with hospital mortality. However, process indicators derived from evidence‐based guidelines were not related to early readmission in this study.

The paper stresses the importance of clinicians confronting their decisions with recommendations of evidence‐based guidelines for the management and treatment of AMI patients.