The purpose of the research was to explicate the use of graphic residual analysis as one strategy for model development in nursing. The research question concerned the use, decisions made, criteria for those decisions and issues resulting from the use of graphic residual analysis in model building. Graphic residual analysis was used as an exploratory methodology to test and respecify the Arizona Health Sciences Center Patient Classification model. A sample of 852 patient classifications, covering all inpatient units at Arizona Health Sciences Center, with the exception of psychiatry, was used for model building. The model developed was a causal model using regression analysis as the statistical technique. Two major sets of assumptions concerning this approach were tested. The mathematic assumptions of the regression analysis consisted of a zero mean, equal variance, independence and normal distribution of the residuals. The causal model assumptions considered were that residuals from each equation met the mathematic assumption, residuals from one equation were uncorrelated with residuals of any other equation, all relevant variables were in the model, there was no measurement error and the functional relationship was correct. Both sets of assumptions were tested by using graphic residual analysis. The primary contribution of this study to nursing research was to begin to evolve criteria to determine when threats to assumptions were sufficient to cause difficulty with the modeling process and criteria for actions to be taken to correct those threats. Findings included that graphic residual analysis was; effective with models of several levels of explained variance, of assistance in determining the parameters of design matrices in exploratory research and valuable in determining the creation of categorical variables as indicators of populations for which the model did not perform. Criteria for dealing with problems such as measurement error, model redundancy, model closure, and parsimony were evolved.

Tumors have several important hallmarks; anomalous and heterogeneous behaviors of their vascular structures, and high angiogenesis and neovascularization. Tumor tissue presents high blood flow (F) and extraction ratio (E) of contrast molecules. Consequently there is growing interest in non invasive methods for characterizing changes in tumor vasculature. Toft's model has been extensively used in the past in order to calculate Ktrans maps which take into consideration both F and E. However, in this thesis we argue that for accurate tumor characterization we need a model able to compute both F and E in tissue plasma. This project has been developed as part of a larger project, working toward building a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS): an interactive expert computer software, that helps doctors and other health professionals make decisions regarding patient treatment progress. Using the Gamma Capillary Transit Time (GCTT) pharmacokinetic model we calculate F and E separately in a more realistic framework; unlike other models it takes into account the heterogeneity of the tumor, which depends on parameter a-1. a-1 is the width of the distribution of the capillary transit times within a tissue voxel. In more detail, a-1 expresses the heterogeneity of tissue microcirculation and microvasculature. We studied 9 patients pathologically diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a common malignant type of brain tumor. Several physiological parameters including the blood flow and extraction ratio distributions were calculated for each patient. Then we investigated if these parameters can characterize early the patients' responsiveness to current treatment; we assessed the classification potential based on the actual therapy outcome. To this end, we present a novel analysis framework which exploits the new parameter a-1 and organizes each voxel into four sub-region. Our results indicate that early characterization of response based on GCCT can be significantly improved by focusing on tumor voxels from a specific sub-region.

Hospital information systems in China are improving and a casemix system for describing inpatient care is looking more feasible than previously. Implementing a casemix classification system for acute inpatient care in China could help to improve regional planning and hospital quality and efficiency. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Australian DRG system as the basis for developing an acute inpatient casemix system appropriate for China. The applicability of the Australian AR-DRG system has been evaluated (in terms of homogeneity achieved and comparability of rank order) using inpatient data from Chengdu in Sichuan. Homogeneity achieved was good. The R2 value (the coefficient of multiple determination) was 0.12 for LOS and 0.17 for cost using untrimmed data and using (L3H3) trimmed data, R2 was 0.45 for LOS and 0.59 for cost. This explanatory power is comparable to other DRG classification systems although there are a few MDCs in which AR-DRGs exhibit poorer explanatory power. Rank order of groups was generally comparable. The AR-DRG system incorporates hierarchies of DRGs within groups of adjacent DRGs, within medical and surgical partitions and across all DRGs within each MDC. I have compared the ranking of DRGs based on average cost with the ranking assumed by the AR-DRG system, at the adjacent group level, within partitions and at the level of the MDC. I used the Spearman Rank Correlation coefficient to compare DRG order across partitions and whole MDCs. In general the cost relativities of the Chinese inpatient episodes grouped by the AR-DRG system correspond to the logical hierarchies assumed by the system. On this basis Chinese and Australian episodes of care within most of the MDCs appear to reflect the same broad pattern of resource consumption. Further research will be needed to determine where and how the grouping rules used in the AR-DRG system might need to be changed to more accurately reflect Chinese circumstances. For example the cost structures of Chinese health services are different from those in Australia. The Australian Refined DRGs (AR-DRGs) would provide a sound basis from which to develop a Chinese version of DRGs.

O pronto socorro é uma unidade do hospital destinada à assistência a pacientes externos com ou sem risco de morte, que necessitam de atendimento imediato, cujo funcionamento se dá nas 24 horas do dia sendo fundamental a determinação do número necessário de profissionais de enfermagem para prestar assistência com qualidade satisfatória, pois a falta de profissionais de enfermagem com diferentes níveis de formação e a sobrecarga de trabalho aumentam o risco de ocorrência de falhas com prejuízo da qualidade na assistência ao paciente. Os instrumentos de classificação de pacientes são utilizados pela enfermagem em qualquer unidade assistencial e estabelecem as características da população assistida de acordo com a necessidade de cuidados requerida, sendo indispensável para a determinação das necessidades de pessoal e alocação quantitativa e qualitativa dos mesmos. Com o objetivo de caracterizar o perfil assistencial dos pacientes adultos durante a internação no pronto-socorro como um dos subsídios para o dimensionamento do pessoal de enfermagem desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa exploratória no método do estudo de caso, em um pronto-socorro, clínico e cirúrgico, de um hospital geral, público estadual que possui 24 leitos de observação e dez leitos na unidade de atendimento de emergências, localizado no extremo leste do município de São Paulo que trabalha com demanda espontânea do usuário. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram os pacientes adultos internados na unidade de emergência e nas salas de observação durante o mês de janeiro de 2009, os dados foram coletados por meio da aplicação do instrumento de classificação de pacientes de Fugulin (2002) que avalia nove áreas de cuidado (Estado mental, Oxigenação, Sinais Vitais, Motilidade, Deambulação, Alimentação, Cuidado Corporal, Eliminação e Terapêutica). Foram realizadas 1.228 avaliações, sendo verificados 91 pacientes na categoria de cuidados intensivos, 75 na categoria de cuidados semi-intensivos, 245 com alta dependência para assistência de enfermagem, 272 com complexidade assistencial intermediária e 545 com a mínima. Houve a constatação de muitos pacientes da psiquiatria internados no pronto-socorro a espera de vagas para internação na unidade especializada requerendo da equipe de enfermagem uma assistência diferenciada para a manutenção da integridade física desses pacientes. Verificou-se por meio do número médio mensal de atendimentos realizados que a maioria dos usuários do pronto-socorro não necessitava de internação mas foram atraídos para esse serviço em busca de consultas de rotina acabando por sobrecarregar a equipe multiprofissional que atua nessa unidade que apresentou uma taxa de ocupação média acima da previsão dos leitos oficiais disponíveis tornando a planta física inadequada para pacientes e profissionais devido às internações em macas pelos corredores, reflexo da falta de um serviço de regulação. / The emergency medical service is the hospital ward designated to outpatient care with or without death risk for those who need immediate care, whose attendance is 24 hours a day, being essential the determination of a required number of nursing professionals for delivering satisfactory quality care, since the lack of nursing professionals with different levels of background and work overload increase the risk of errors, impairing the quality of patient care. The instruments of patient classification are used by nursing in any care ward and set up the characteristics of the population assisted, according to the need of care required, being vital for determining the personnel needs and its quantitative and qualitative allocation. Aiming to characterize the adult patient care profile throughout the admission at the emergency medical service, as a support for nursing personnel dimensioning, it was developed an exploratory research in a study of case method, at a clinic and surgical emergency room of a general, public state hospital that holds 24 observation beds and 10 beds at the emergency attendance ward, located at the extreme east of São Paulo city and which works with spontaneous demand of users. The subjects of research were adult patients admitted at the emergency ward and the observation rooms throughout the month of January, 2009. Data was collected through the application of an instrument of patient classification by Fugulin (2002), which evaluates nine care areas (Mental Status, Oxygenation, Vital Signs, Motility, walking, Feeding, Body Care, Elimination and Therapeutics). It was made 1228 evaluations, in which 91 patients in the intensive care category were verified, 75 in the semiintensive care, 245 with high dependence of nursing care, 272 with intermediate care complexity and 545 with minimal one. There was the evidence of many psychiatric patients admitted in the emergency room waiting for a vacancy in the specialized ward requiring from the nursing staff special care for keeping the physical integrity of those patients. It was verified by the monthly average number of attendance that most emergency room users didnt need admission, but they were attracted to this service in search for routine appointments, leading to overload the multi-professional team that works in this ward, which presented an average occupancy rate above the prediction of official beds available, making the physical space inadequate for patients and professionals, due to the admissions in beds spread in corridors, result of lack of service control.

O pronto socorro é uma unidade do hospital destinada à assistência a pacientes externos com ou sem risco de morte, que necessitam de atendimento imediato, cujo funcionamento se dá nas 24 horas do dia sendo fundamental a determinação do número necessário de profissionais de enfermagem para prestar assistência com qualidade satisfatória, pois a falta de profissionais de enfermagem com diferentes níveis de formação e a sobrecarga de trabalho aumentam o risco de ocorrência de falhas com prejuízo da qualidade na assistência ao paciente. Os instrumentos de classificação de pacientes são utilizados pela enfermagem em qualquer unidade assistencial e estabelecem as características da população assistida de acordo com a necessidade de cuidados requerida, sendo indispensável para a determinação das necessidades de pessoal e alocação quantitativa e qualitativa dos mesmos. Com o objetivo de caracterizar o perfil assistencial dos pacientes adultos durante a internação no pronto-socorro como um dos subsídios para o dimensionamento do pessoal de enfermagem desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa exploratória no método do estudo de caso, em um pronto-socorro, clínico e cirúrgico, de um hospital geral, público estadual que possui 24 leitos de observação e dez leitos na unidade de atendimento de emergências, localizado no extremo leste do município de São Paulo que trabalha com demanda espontânea do usuário. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram os pacientes adultos internados na unidade de emergência e nas salas de observação durante o mês de janeiro de 2009, os dados foram coletados por meio da aplicação do instrumento de classificação de pacientes de Fugulin (2002) que avalia nove áreas de cuidado (Estado mental, Oxigenação, Sinais Vitais, Motilidade, Deambulação, Alimentação, Cuidado Corporal, Eliminação e Terapêutica). Foram realizadas 1.228 avaliações, sendo verificados 91 pacientes na categoria de cuidados intensivos, 75 na categoria de cuidados semi-intensivos, 245 com alta dependência para assistência de enfermagem, 272 com complexidade assistencial intermediária e 545 com a mínima. Houve a constatação de muitos pacientes da psiquiatria internados no pronto-socorro a espera de vagas para internação na unidade especializada requerendo da equipe de enfermagem uma assistência diferenciada para a manutenção da integridade física desses pacientes. Verificou-se por meio do número médio mensal de atendimentos realizados que a maioria dos usuários do pronto-socorro não necessitava de internação mas foram atraídos para esse serviço em busca de consultas de rotina acabando por sobrecarregar a equipe multiprofissional que atua nessa unidade que apresentou uma taxa de ocupação média acima da previsão dos leitos oficiais disponíveis tornando a planta física inadequada para pacientes e profissionais devido às internações em macas pelos corredores, reflexo da falta de um serviço de regulação. / The emergency medical service is the hospital ward designated to outpatient care with or without death risk for those who need immediate care, whose attendance is 24 hours a day, being essential the determination of a required number of nursing professionals for delivering satisfactory quality care, since the lack of nursing professionals with different levels of background and work overload increase the risk of errors, impairing the quality of patient care. The instruments of patient classification are used by nursing in any care ward and set up the characteristics of the population assisted, according to the need of care required, being vital for determining the personnel needs and its quantitative and qualitative allocation. Aiming to characterize the adult patient care profile throughout the admission at the emergency medical service, as a support for nursing personnel dimensioning, it was developed an exploratory research in a study of case method, at a clinic and surgical emergency room of a general, public state hospital that holds 24 observation beds and 10 beds at the emergency attendance ward, located at the extreme east of São Paulo city and which works with spontaneous demand of users. The subjects of research were adult patients admitted at the emergency ward and the observation rooms throughout the month of January, 2009. Data was collected through the application of an instrument of patient classification by Fugulin (2002), which evaluates nine care areas (Mental Status, Oxygenation, Vital Signs, Motility, walking, Feeding, Body Care, Elimination and Therapeutics). It was made 1228 evaluations, in which 91 patients in the intensive care category were verified, 75 in the semiintensive care, 245 with high dependence of nursing care, 272 with intermediate care complexity and 545 with minimal one. There was the evidence of many psychiatric patients admitted in the emergency room waiting for a vacancy in the specialized ward requiring from the nursing staff special care for keeping the physical integrity of those patients. It was verified by the monthly average number of attendance that most emergency room users didnt need admission, but they were attracted to this service in search for routine appointments, leading to overload the multi-professional team that works in this ward, which presented an average occupancy rate above the prediction of official beds available, making the physical space inadequate for patients and professionals, due to the admissions in beds spread in corridors, result of lack of service control.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD) are chronic, autoimmune disorders that target overlapping autoantigens and exhibit similar clinical manifestations. Despite 40 years of research, a reliable biomarker capable of diagnosing these syndromes has yet to be identified. Previous studies have confirmed that components of the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein complex (U1 snRNP) such as U1A are 1000 fold more autoantigenic than any other nuclear component in SLE patients. Based on these findings, I hypothesize that models derived from the U1 snRNP autoantigenic properties could distinguish SLE from MCTD patients. To test this hypothesis, 30 peptides corresponding to protein regions of the U1 snRNP were tested in triplicates by indirect ELISA in sera from SLE or MCTD subjects. In addition laboratory tests and clinical manifestations data from these patients were included and analyzed in this investigation. Statistical classification methods as well as bioinformatics pattern recognition strategy were employed to determine which combination, if any, of all the variables included in this study provide the best segregation power for SLE and MCTD. The results confirmed that the IgM reactivity for U1 snRNP and U1A have the power to significantly distinguish SLE from MTCD patients as well as identify kidney and lung malfunctions for these subjects (p ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, the data analysis revealed eight novel classification rules for the segregation of SLE and MCTD which are a better classification tool than any of the currently available methods (p ≤ 0.05). Consequently, the results derived from this study support that SLE and MCTD are indeed separate disorders and pioneer the description of eight novel classification criteria capable of significantly discerning between SLE and MCTD patients (p ≤ 0.05).

Darbo tikslas – įvertinti terapinio profilio slaugytojų darbo laiko sąnaudų ryšį su pacientų savarankiškumu. Uždaviniai: 1. Išanalizuoti terapinio profilio slaugytojų darbo laiko sąnaudas pagal priežiūros kategorijas ir slaugytojo veiklų grupes. 2. Nustatyti terapinio profilio pacientų savarankiškumo lygmenį. 3. Išanalizuoti terapinio profilio slaugytojų darbo laiko sąnaudas, atsižvelgiant į pacientų savarankiškumo lygmenį. Tyrimo metodika. Tyrimas atliktas VšĮ Vilkaviškio ligoninės trijuose terapinio profilio skyriuose (vidaus ligų, neurologijos, slaugos ir palaikomojo gydymo). Tyrimo trukmė - 3,5 mėn. Naudotas tiesioginis laiko ir slaugytojo veiksmų stebėjimo metodas (angl. time-and-motion studies). Iš viso atlikta 72 stebėjimai, kurie sudarė 777,2 val. slaugytojų darbo laiko sąnaudų. Pacientų savarankiškumas vertintas anketa. Rezultatai: Terapinio profilio slaugytojų didžiausios darbo laiko sąnaudos dienos (46,6 proc.) ir nakties (28,3 proc.) pamainoje skirtos tiesioginei pacientų priežiūrai. Mažiausia dalis slaugytojų darbo laiko praleista netiesioginei pacientų priežiūrai. Terapinio profilio skyriuose didžioji dalis pacientų (40,1 proc.) buvo savarankiški, 22,3 priklausomi ir 16 proc. - visiškai priklausomi. Slaugytojai per dvi darbo pamainas (dienos ir nakties), pusę savo darbo laiko skyrė visiškai priklausomiems pacientams slaugyti ir prižiūrėti, ketvirtadalį laiko - priklausomiems pacientams ir mažiausiai, t.y. 14 proc. - savarankiškiems pacientams. Išvados: 1... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Purpose – to evaluate the relationship between time spent caring a patient by nurses on a medical unit and the patients‘ levels of independence. Objectives: 1. Analyze time spent caring for a patient by nurses on a medical unit according to care categories and nurses activity groups. 2. Determine patients‘ independence levels on a medical unit. 3. Analyze time spent caring for patients according to independence levels by nurses on a medical unit. Methods. The study was completed at Vilkaviškis Hospital, in three medical units (internal medicine, neurology and nursing and hospice care) The length of the study was 3.5 months. Data was gathered through time and motion observation. Seventy-two observations yielded 777.2 hours of observed nursing time. Patient independence was evaluated using a questionnaire. Results: On medical units, the majority of nursing time during the day (46,6%) and night (28,3%) shifts is dedicated to direct patient care. The least amount of nursing time is spent in indirect patient care. On the medical units, a large number of patients (40,1%) were independent, 22,3% needed partial care and 16%. required total care. Nurses during two shifts (day and night) spent half their time providing total care to patients, a quarter of their time providing partial care and the least amount of time, i.e., 14%, providing care to independent patients. Conclusions: 1. Almost half of the nursing shift is spent in direct patient care; much time was spent administering... [to full text]