As for quality, the U.S. now ranks last among 19 industrialized countries in preventable deaths and has a dismal ranking in many other patient indicators.
Variability in what both nurses and patients experienced in hospitals was, in general, even greater within countries than between countries; however, the association between nurse and patient indicators across hospitals were quite similar.
The age and sex of the patients, clinical diagnosis, duration of hospitalization, antibiotic information (name, dose and frequency) and the results of culture and sensitivity testing were entered into the patient indicator form (PIF) [see Additional file 1].
The primary study end point was analyzed via a mixed linear model, adjusting for period, treatment sequence (carryover), and treatment effect (fixed factors), with patient indicator as a random intercept and PR at baseline as a covariate.
Platelet inhibition at the end of treatment periods was analyzed with a similar model with period, treatment sequence (carryover), and treatment effect as fixed factors, patient indicator as random intercept, and percent inhibition at baseline as a covariate.
By means of ranking indicators, patients indicated the importance of different patient experience indicators (CQI themes derived from the Dutch Consumer Quality Index questionnaire), clinical performance indicators, and indicators about hospital services.
Participants were more homogeneous in their rankings of patient experience indicators compared to the rankings of indicators about hospital services and clinical performance indicators (see variances Table 2).
The DFT and DS were considered to be simple, patient-centred indicators of patients' daily functioning and their emotional distress.
The UL-LOS indicator is a useful addition to other patient safety indicators by revealing variation between hospitals and areas of possible patient safety improvement.
The specifications of the US patient safety indicators use ICD-9 (international classification of diseases, ninth revision): each indicator is defined by specific numerator and denominator codes.
10 The development of patient safety indicators in England is running in parallel with international efforts to derive comparative indicators of patient safety.
