Introduction: Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients are those who are kept hospitalized although they are medically well enough to be discharged. Those patients wait in acute care because they cannot access an appropriate alternative level of care outside the hospital. ALC leads to the improper consumption of valuable resources that are needed for patients waiting in other departments such as emergency rooms. This reflects poor quality outcomes of the healthcare system and represents a significant economic burden. Moreover, particularly when it concerns older adults, longer stay in hospital results in worsening their health outcomes, declining their functional status and increasing their needs for long-term care. Therefore, ALC is costly from both patient and health care system perspective. Objectives: The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of the Home First strategy on the incidence of ALC. Moreover, the study addressed both the specialized clinical needs (such as dialysis, chemotherapy and mechanical ventilation) and socioeconomic status of ALC patients in order to unveil their association with the ALC length of stay. Methods: This study involved a secondary analysis of data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluation (ICES). The analyzed dataset included a cohort of 6,059,033 hospitalization records of Ontario citizens, aged 65 years and older, who were admitted to an acute care facility between April 2004 and March 2017. The study involved descriptive analytics grouping the dataset into ALC and non-ALC subsets and examined the percentage of ALC hospitalizations, ALC days and reported odds ratios across several patients' characteristics. Results: From 2004 until 2016, ALC patients waited to access an appropriate destination for 10.7 million days. Those numbers represented 19.7% of all hospitalization days across Ontario. ALC was more likely among seniors aged 75-84 (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.35-1.36), aged 85-94 (OR 2.16, 95% CI 2.15-2.17), aged 95+ (OR 2.46, 95% CI 2.40-2.50), females (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.35-1.36), those who were hospitalized 90 days prior to their current admission (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.21-1.22), and those who were admitted to hospital through Emergency Department (OR 2.64, 95% CI 2.62-2.67). Moreover, ALC was 10 times more likely in the subgroup of patients who were discharged to long-term care (LTC) (OR 9.71, 95% CI 9.66-9.77). For the socioeconomic characteristics, this study showed that patients were more likely to have ALC days when they lived in urban areas, had a lower income, and were highly unstable and dependent. Furthermore, patients with special clinical needs spent from 10% to 25% of their total hospitalization length of stay waiting to be discharged to an appropriated alternative level of care. Finally, the study revealed that although the implementation of a Home First strategy resulted in a 26% reduction of ALC hospitalizations and a 13% decrease in ALC days, the percent of patients discharged to LTC did not change. For the subgroup having the highest percentage of ALC hospitalizations (53.4%) and ALC days (40.3%), this reflects a partial failure of the Home First strategy in achieving its main objective of facilitating the discharge of patients to their homes. Conclusions: Policy makers and health care practitioners may benefit from the findings of this study by considering the needs of the ALC patients while planning, allocating resources, and developing polices for discharge, LTC and community care. However, more work is required to quantify the impact of the ALC determinants suggested in this study and assess the efficiency of the current policies and procedures. Introduction: Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients are those who are kept hospitalized although they are medically well enough to be discharged. Those patients wait in acute care because they cannot access an appropriate alternative level of care outside the hospital. ALC leads to the improper consumption of valuable resources that are needed for patients waiting in other departments such as emergency rooms. This reflects poor quality outcomes of the healthcare system and represents a significant economic burden. Moreover, particularly when it concerns older adults, longer stay in hospital results in worsening their health outcomes, declining their functional status and increasing their needs for long-term care. Therefore, ALC is costly from both patient and health care system perspective. Objectives: The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of the Home First strategy on the incidence of ALC. Moreover, the study addressed both the specialized clinical needs (such as dialysis, chemotherapy and mechanical ventilation) and socioeconomic status of ALC patients in order to unveil their association with the ALC length of stay. Methods: This study involved a secondary analysis of data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluation (ICES). The analyzed dataset included a cohort of 6,059,033 hospitalization records of Ontario citizens, aged 65 years and older, who were admitted to an acute care facility between April 2004 and March 2017. The study involved descriptive analytics grouping the dataset into ALC and non-ALC subsets and examined the percentage of ALC hospitalizations, ALC days and reported odds ratios across several patients' characteristics. Results: From 2004 until 2016, ALC patients waited to access an appropriate destination for 10.7 million days. Those numbers represented 19.7% of all hospitalization days across Ontario. ALC was more likely among seniors aged 75-84 (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.35-1.36), aged 85-94 (OR 2.16, 95% CI 2.15-2.17), aged 95+ (OR 2.46, 95% CI 2.40-2.50), females (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.35-1.36), those who were hospitalized 90 days prior to their current admission (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.21-1.22), and those who were admitted to hospital through Emergency Department (OR 2.64, 95% CI 2.62-2.67). Moreover, ALC was 10 times more likely in the subgroup of patients who were discharged to long-term care (LTC) (OR 9.71, 95% CI 9.66-9.77). For the socioeconomic characteristics, this study showed that patients were more likely to have ALC days when they lived in urban areas, had a lower income, and were highly unstable and dependent. Furthermore, patients with special clinical needs spent from 10% to 25% of their total hospitalization length of stay waiting to be discharged to an appropriated alternative level of care. Finally, the study revealed that although the implementation of a Home First strategy resulted in a 26% reduction of ALC hospitalizations and a 13% decrease in ALC days, the percent of patients discharged to LTC did not change. For the subgroup having the highest percentage of ALC hospitalizations (53.4%) and ALC days (40.3%), this reflects a partial failure of the Home First strategy in achieving its main objective of facilitating the discharge of patients to their homes. Conclusions: Policy makers and health care practitioners may benefit from the findings of this study by considering the needs of the ALC patients while planning, allocating resources, and developing polices for discharge, LTC and community care. However, more work is required to quantify the impact of the ALC determinants suggested in this study and assess the efficiency of the current policies and procedures. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The Child and Adolescent Level of Care System/Child and Adolescent Service Intensity Instrument (CALOCUS/ CASH) is designed to help determine the intensity of services needed for a child served in a mental health system of care. The instrument contains eight dimensions that are rated following a comprehensive clinical evaluation. The dimensions are risk of harm, functionality, co-morbidity (psychiatric, substance abuse, development disability and medical), environmental stressors, environmental supports, the child's resiliency, and the child and family's willingness to engage in treatment. An algorithm connects the ratings to a level of care recommendation. The instrument specifies six levels of care defined flexibly enough to consider whatever services are available. The results of psychometric testing using raters with a broad range of clinical experience and training from four different systems of care around the country are presented. The testing demon-strates excellent reliability when rating vignettes. Using children and adolescents in live system of care clinical settings, the CALOCUS/CASH demonstrates reasonable validity when compared with the Child Global Assessment Scale, and the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale.

Objectives: The process of service intensity (SI) or level of care (LOC) determination regarding mental health services has a problematic history. There is a need for reliable and valid SI/LOC determination tools for youth in the child welfare system. Methods: In 2004 and 2005, the Tennessee Child Program Outcome Review Team (CPORT) reviewed 437 children and youth in the child welfare system (277 in state custody, 160 at risk of custody) of whom 61.6% were male, 64.8% Caucasian and 28.4% African American. Instruments used included the CASII, CAFAS, CBCL, YSR, TRF, and the CPORT Child and Family Indicators. Results: All CASII subscales significantly correlated to the CAFAS Total Scores (Pearson coefficients 0.225 to 0.454). The CASII Total Score and the CASII SI determinations were highly correlated to CBCL, YSR, and TRF total and sub-scales. Significant correlations between the CASII SI determinations were found across all of the 13 CPORT Child and Family Indicators, while actual placement significantly correlated with only three of the 13 dimensions. The actual SI/LOC placements were significantly divergent from the placement recommendations derived using the CASII instrument (p < 0.000) with the majority of CASII SI/LOCs recommendations being for less restrictive placements. Conclusions: The CASII SI/LOC tool demonstrates high levels of reliability and validity in multiple care contexts, including child welfare, juvenile justice, and mental health settings. Expanded use of the CASII could potentially result in less restrictive, more appropriate, and less costly services becoming available to youth in these systems.

SAMMANFATTNING  Syfte Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka anledningen till att vissa familjer väljer att söka akutsjukvård till sina barn istället för att vända sig till andra vårdinstanser.  Metod En enkät utformades för studien. Enkäten delades ut till familjer som sökte för icke akuta åkommor på en barnakutmottagning i Uppsala län. Studien pågick under en tolvdagarsperiod och avslutades när 80 familjer besvarat enkäten. Frågorna bearbetades med hjälp av beskrivande statistik samt chi2-test.  Resultat Den huvudsakliga anledningen till att man valde att söka på barnakutmottagningen var att man telefonledes blivit hänvisad av annan vårdinstans (73,8%). Av de familjer som varit i kontakt med annan vårdinstans hade 70% hänvisats via sjukvårdsrådgivningen/1177.De vanligaste åkommorna som det söktes för var andningsbesvär, luftvägsinfektioner och bukbesvär. Någon skillnad i sökmönster beroende på demografiska faktorer kunde inte urskiljas.  Slutsats Studien visade att anledningen till att familjer sökte akutsjukvård för icke akuta åkommor i mycket stor grad berodde på att man hänvisats till barnakutmottagningen av annan vårdinstans. Det är således inte familjernas intention att söka akut i första hand utan systemets utformning som styr familjerna till barnakutmottagningen. / ABSTRACT  Aim The aim was to evaluate why families visited the pediatric emergency department with non-acute conditions instead of seeking other healthcare providers.  Method A questionnaire was constructed and distributed to families that visited a pediatric emergency department in Uppsala county. The study was terminated after twelve days. 80 families were included. The results were evaluated with descriptive statistics as well as Chi2-test.  Results The most common reason (73,8%) for visiting the pediatric emergency department was that the families had been instructed by phone to do so by another health care provider. Of the families that had been referred by another health care provider 70% had been referred by the ”Sjukvårdsrådgiving/1177”. The most common reasons for the visit were troubles with breathing, upper air way infection and abdominal problems. There were no discernable differences in the visiting patterns due to demographic differences.  Conclusion The study shows that the reason that families visited the pediatric emergency department for for non-acute conditions to a large degree was that they had been recommended to do so by another health care provider. It is thus not the families own intention to primarily visit the pediatric emergency department but the health care system channels them there.

The present study had an overarching objective of seeking information to better understand the service needs of children entering foster care who are universally enrolled into behavioral health services at the time of their home removal. The first specific aim was to examine how various case attributes (i.e., aspects of a child’s background, personal and familial characteristics, and CPS involvement) related to behavioral health needs at entry, represented by global functioning ratings and service intensity scores. A second specific aim was to explore the existence of natural groupings of foster youth to examine if meaningful groupings occur in relation to demographic and risk and factors. Finally, this study sought to evaluate service needs of subgroups of foster children who are typically under-referred for services. Data were collected from records of 327 school-age youth who were automatically enrolled into treatment from one community-based outpatient behavioral health provider at the time of home removal. The results of this study showed that the average school-age child entering foster care is performing in the at-risk range of global functioning (mean CGAS score of 69.23) and requires at least short-term behavioral health intervention services and/or recovery monitoring (mean CASII Composite Score of 13.1). With respect to severity of impaired functioning, the results indicated that racial background, medical history, speech problems, school grade level (e.g., <1 year, K-3,...9-12), psychological stability, and reasons for removal significantly contributed to scores of global functioning. With regard to the intensity of service needs, the findings suggested gender, historical involvement with child welfare services, foster placement, simultaneous removal of all children, history of sexualized behaviors, and global functioning predicted level of care composite scores. Subgroups of foster youth that are typically under-referred and/or under-utilize services (i.e., preschool age children, children who did not experience physical or sexual abuse, and ethnic minorities) generally did not differ in terms of functionality or service intensity ratings from their counterpart groups; the only exception being that Caucasian/Non-Hispanic youth demonstrated lower average ratings on global functioning than children who identify with other racial backgrounds. The data showed inadequate fit for examining latent classes among youth entering foster care.

Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients are patients that stay in the acute care setting while waiting to be transferred to an ALC facility. They are not receiving the appropriate type of care and are occupying acute care resources. ALC patients occupy 5,200 patient beds everyday in Canada, and 12 percent of these ALC patients die during their waiting period. This study evaluates Toronto General Hospital's (TGH) discharge policy in the General Surgery and General Internal Medicine (GIM) departments using a discrete-event simulation. For long-term care ALC patients, it was found that applying to one extra application or maximizing the number of short waiting list facilities in their total number of applications significantly reduces the number of ALC days and the number of died in hospital patients. Knowing if discharge policies can decrease ALC days is not only significant to TGH but also to other health care institutions.

Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients are patients that stay in the acute care setting while waiting to be transferred to an ALC facility. They are not receiving the appropriate type of care and are occupying acute care resources. ALC patients occupy 5,200 patient beds everyday in Canada, and 12 percent of these ALC patients die during their waiting period. This study evaluates Toronto General Hospital's (TGH) discharge policy in the General Surgery and General Internal Medicine (GIM) departments using a discrete-event simulation. For long-term care ALC patients, it was found that applying to one extra application or maximizing the number of short waiting list facilities in their total number of applications significantly reduces the number of ALC days and the number of died in hospital patients. Knowing if discharge policies can decrease ALC days is not only significant to TGH but also to other health care institutions.

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Riktlinjer har senaste åren tagits fram i syfte att erbjuda patienter som omhändertas av ambulanssjukvården en alternativ vårdnivå i stället för den sjukhusanslutna akutmottagningen, i syfte att ge patienten god vård utifrån dennes behov. Riktlinjer har sedan 2013 på projektbasis upprättats i en storstadsregion i Sverige där ambulanssjuksköterskan i samråd med patient kan erbjuda patienten ett adekvat och i många fall snabbt omhändertagande på fyra av regionens närakutmottagningar utifrån en rad kriterier. Under 2013 har 566 patienter enligt regionens journalsystem förts enligt detta arbetssätt till närakut.   Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva patienter som av ambulanssjuksköterskan styrts till en närakut, samt styrningsprocessen för patienterna.   Den valda metoden var retrospektiv journalgranskning behandlad med deskriptiv samt inferentiell statistik.   Resultatet pekar på genusskillnader bland patienterna som förts till närakut, såväl i utlarmningsprioritet som i bedömd allvarlighetsgrad hos patienterna. Resultatet tyder även på skillnader i orsak till kontakt med närakut i mellan könen. Ambulanssjuksköterskan visade sig även göra avsteg från de kriterier som riktlinjerna för närakutstyrning baseras på.   Studien ger en inblick i en förhållandevis ny patientgrupp, som visar på variationer i så väl demografiska data som orsak till vårdkontakt. Skillnader förelåg rörande jämställdhet mellan könen, såväl från alarmeringstjänstens och från ambulanssjukvårdens sida, men bakomliggande orsaker till dessa kräver fördjupad forskning. De riktlinjer som ligger till grund för detta nya arbetssätt följs inte till fullo av ambulanssjukvården vilket tyder på att ytterligare forskning kring beslutstödens utformning och ambulanssjuksköterskors attityder behöver bedrivas. / In recent years, regional guidelines have implemented to provide patients’ cared for by Emergency Medical Services [EMS] care alternatives to the traditional transport to the closest hospital. The purpose for this is to provide the most appropriate level of care based on the patients’ needs. Since 2013, these guidelines have been tested on a project basis in a region in Sweden. Providing that certain criteria are met, the ambulance specialist nurse, in agreement with the patient, is able to offer the patient an adequate level of care, often with a quicker admittance at four walk-in centers in the region, During 2013, 566 patients have been brought by EMS to these walk-in centers, according to the EMS journal system. The purpose was to describe the patient that has been brought to walk-in centers by the EMS and describe the management process. The study was a retrospective journal review where results were presented by descriptive and inferential statistics.   The results indicate differences among patient demographics concerning gender, as well as differences in priority set by emergency dispatch and severity of the patients’ condition according to the EMS. Furthermore, the EMS was shown to deviate from the criteria that the regulatory guidelines were founded on.   The study gives insight to a relatively new patient group, illustrating variations in demographic data as well as reasons contact with the EMS. There were differences concerning equality between genders, both from emergency dispatch as well as the EMS. The cause for these differences requires further research. The guidelines providing the basis for this new approach were not followed to the full extent, motivating further research into the content of these guidelines, as well as attitudes of the EMS personnel.

Primary informal caregivers are mainly responsible for the care of persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Research has shown that the quality-of-life (QoL) experienced by unpaid caregivers of persons with AD is generally lower than the QoL of caregivers of persons who do not have AD. The literature does not report on any studies undertaken to examine whether caregivers' QoL is related to the level or quality of care that they provide to persons with AD. This thesis investigated the association between caregiver QoL and the level or quality of care provided. I conducted a systematic review and found no study designed specifically to examine this association. I included only one study in the systematic review because it contained variables that were relevant to caregiver QoL and the level or quality of care. However, this single included study did not specifically examine the association between QoL and level or quality of care. In addition, I could not find an instrument designed specifically to measure level or quality of care in AD. To answer this question, I contacted the authors of the single study included in the systematic review and obtained their dataset. Quantitative analysis of these data did not show a statistically significant association between caregiver well-being (surrogate for QoL) and level or quality of care. Further, I conducted a qualitative study of AD caregivers to obtain data on the components of a useful questionnaire for measuring level or quality of care. Caregivers suggested the development of a questionnaire that addresses the following areas: case management approach, increasing care demands due to declining status of the care recipient, social support, and the role of hired help. The thesis concludes with an integrative discussion of the aforementioned studies. I discuss important areas for future research, including the need for a longitudinal study. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)