However, earlier work did indicate usefulness of indicators obtained from automated data for an unselected set of nonobstetric procedures (17) and separately for identification of postpartum infection (23).
Six criteria were used to evaluate either the practicality or usefulness of indicators.
The usefulness of indicators related to this first subsystem for assessing nursing care performance may be justified on several grounds: The indicators mentioned above may reveal a broad set of dysfunctions and deficiencies, such as insufficient supply of basic material resources, gaps between nurse staffing and patients' needs, heavy workload and staff instability.
Serum acute phase proteins (APP) Haptoglobin (Hp), Amyloid A (SAA) and Acid Soluble Glycoprotein (ASG) concentrations were also determined to evaluate their usefulness as indicators of clinical status.
However, few studies have tested for statistical differences in the factors that influence the exposure of mammals to WNV, which thus would establish their usefulness as indicators of variation in WNV transmission.
From a methodological perspective, the study points to the usefulness of indicators such as the number of researchers and their qualifications, proportion of PhDs and the range of disciplines.
As a matter of fact, the usefulness of indicators highly depends on the evaluation purposes and the level of aggregation of the unit of analysis: for instance, citation indicators partially capture the impact on knowledge advancements as they only consider published literature, they are artificially skewed by journal's impact factor and can be misleading when applied to individuals.
Some academics are highly sceptical about the usefulness of the indicators used to compile rankings: Hazelkorn argues that a high proportion of international students could just as easily decrease a university's quality as increase it.
Although several publications concerning the use of the biomarkers S100B and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in vertebral spine fractures in animal experimental studies have proven their usefulness as early indicators of injury severity, there are no clinical reports on their effectiveness as indicators in patients with spinal injuries.
