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Abstract Background Preventive child health care is well suited for the early detection of parenting and developmental problems. However, as far as the younger age group is concerned, there are no validated early detection instruments which cover both the child and its environment. Therefore, we have developed a broad-scope structured interview which assesses parents’ concerns and their need for support, using both the parental perspective and the experience of the child health care nurse: the Structured Problem Analysis of Raising Kids (SPARK). This study reports the psychometric characteristics of the SPARK. Method A cross-sectional study of 2012 18-month-old children, living in Zeeland, a province of the Netherlands. Inter-rater reliability was assessed in 67 children. Convergent validity was assessed by comparing SPARK-domains with domains in self-report questionnaires on child development and parenting stress. Discriminative validity was assessed by comparing different outcomes of the SPARK between groups with different levels of socio-economic status and by performing an extreme-groups comparison. The user experience of both parents and nurses was assessed with the aid of an online survey. Results The response rate was 92.1% for the SPARK. Self-report questionnaires were returned in the case of 66.9% of the remaining 1721 children. There was selective non-reporting: 33.1% of the questionnaires were not returned, covering 65.2% of the children with a high-risk label according to the SPARK (p Conclusion The SPARK discriminates between children with a high, increased and low risk of parenting and developmental problems. It does so in a reliable way, but more research is needed on aspects of validity and in other populations.

Background: Stroke services are a form of integrated care which have been introduced in many countries, including the Netherlands, to improve health outcomes and processes of care by connecting the acute, rehabilitative, and chronic phases of stroke care. Limited research exists on the effects of payment systems on the functioning of integrated care services from the perspectives of those involved in providing, planning and contracting the care. This qualitative study identified stakeholder views on i) challenges in integrated stroke care associated with fee-for-service systems; ii) other possible financing models for stroke care, and iii) challenges in the implementation of an integrated financing mechanism for stroke care. Methods: Twenty-four participants were interviewed using face-to-face audio-recorded semi-structured interviews. Respondents were purposively selected from five stakeholder groups; care providers, health care managers, health insurers, experts and patient representatives. Transcribed data were coded and analysed to generate themes relating to the study aims. Results: Respondents mentioned the following challenges associated with the current fee-for-service system; inappropriate incentives for cooperation, efficiency and improving quality and the inability to exert steering power at the level of the stroke service. In addition, care is not patient-centred and the financing system is inflexible. The respondents mentioned several solutions for the challenges, but there was no consensus amongst them. Regarding the implementation of integrated financing, respondents mentioned the following general challenges; a) the foundations of the financing system are incompatible with integrated financing, b) co-morbidity and c) the lack of evidence on the effect of integrated financing. Stroke-specific challenges were; a) the diverse patient population, b) a non-uniform care trajectory, c) unclear division of responsibility for the overall care and d) different stages of development among stroke services. Conclusions: This study provides new knowledge on stakeholder perception of the effect of payment systems and financial incentives on cooperation processes, quality of care and cost-containment in integrated stroke care. The results show that fee-for-service does not provide the right incentives for the integration of stroke care. We recommend to perform financial experiments for integrated stroke care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the Canadian province of Alberta access and quality of stroke care were suboptimal, especially in remote areas. The government introduced the Alberta Provincial Stroke Strategy (APSS) in 2005, an integrated strategy to improve access to stroke care, quality and efficiency which utilizes telehealth. Research question: What is the process flow and the structure of the care pathways of the APSS? Methodology: Information for this article was obtained using documentation, archival APSS records, interviews with experts, direct observation and participant observation. Results: The process flow is described. The APSS integrated evidence-based practice, multidisciplinary communication, and telestroke services. It includes regular quality evaluation and improvement. Conclusion: Access, efficiency and quality of care improved since the start of the APSS across many domains, through improvement of expertise and equipment in small hospitals, accessible consultation of stroke specialists using telestroke, enhancing preventive care, enhancing multidisciplinary collaboration, introducing uniform best practice protocols and bypass-protocols for the emergency medical services. Discussion: The APSS overcame substantial obstacles to decrease discrepancies and to deliver integrated higher quality care. Telestroke has proven itself to be safe and feasible. The APSS works efficiently, which is in line to other projects worldwide, and is, based on limited results, cost effective. Further research on cost-effectiveness is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious complication in critically ill patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). We hypothesized that ICU survivors with AKI would have a worse health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcome than ICU survivors without AKI. Methods: We performed a long-term prospective observational study. Patients admitted for > 48 hours in a medical-surgical ICU were included and divided in two groups: patients who fulfilled RIFLE criteria for AKI and patients without AKI. We used the Short-Form 36 to evaluate HRQOL before admission (by proxy within 48 hours after admission of the patient), at ICU discharge, hospital discharge, 3 and 6 months following ICU discharge (all by patients). Recovery in HRQOL from ICU-admission onwards was assessed using linear mixed modelling. Results: Between September 2000 and January 2007 all admissions were screened for study participation. We included a total of 749 patients. At six months after ICU discharge 73 patients with AKI and 325 patients without AKI could be evaluated. In survivors with and without AKI, the pre-admission HRQOL (by proxy) and at six months after ICU discharge was significantly lower compared with an age matched general population. Most SF-36 dimensions changed significantly over time from ICU discharge. Change over time of HRQOL between the different AKI Rifle classes (Risk, Injury, Failure) showed no significant differences. At ICU discharge, scores were lowest in the group with AKI compared with the group without AKI for the physical functioning, role-physical and general health dimensions. However, there were almost no differences in HRQOL between both groups at six months. Conclusions: The pre-admission HRQOL (by proxy) of AKI survivors was significantly lower in two dimensions compared with the age matched general population. Six months after ICU discharge survivors with and without AKI showed an almost similar HRQOL. However, compared with the general population with a similar age, HRQOL was poorer in both groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies show several health-related behaviors to cluster in adolescents. This has important implications for public health. Interrelated behaviors have been shown to be most effectively targeted by multimodal interventions addressing wider-ranging improvements in lifestyle instead of via separate interventions targeting individual behaviors. However, few previous studies have taken into account a broad, multi-disciplinary range of health-related behaviors and connected these behavioral patterns to health-related outcomes. This paper presents an analysis of the clustering of a broad range of health-related behaviors with relevant demographic factors and several health-related outcomes in adolescents. Methods Self-report questionnaire data were collected from a sample of 2,690 Dutch high school adolescents. Behavioral patterns were deducted via Principal Components Analysis. Subsequently a Two-Step Cluster Analysis was used to identify groups of adolescents with similar behavioral patterns and health-related outcomes. Results Four distinct behavioral patterns describe the analyzed individual behaviors: 1- risk-prone behavior, 2- bully behavior, 3- problematic screen time use, and 4- sedentary behavior. Subsequent cluster analysis identified four clusters of adolescents. Multi-problem behavior was associated with problematic physical and psychosocial health outcomes, as opposed to those exerting relatively few unhealthy behaviors. These associations were relatively independent of demographics such as ethnicity, gender and socio-economic status. Conclusions The results show that health-related behaviors tend to cluster, indicating that specific behavioral patterns underlie individual health behaviors. In addition, specific patterns of health-related behaviors were associated with specific health outcomes and demographic factors. In general, unhealthy behavior on account of multiple health-related behaviors was associated with both poor psychosocial and physical health. These findings have significant meaning for future public health programs, which should be more tailored with use of such knowledge on behavioral clustering via e.g. Transfer Learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Given the high incidence of stroke worldwide and the large costs associated with the use of health care resources, it is important to define cost-effective and evidence-based services for stroke rehabilitation. The objective of this review was to assess the evidence on the relative cost or cost-effectiveness of all integrated care arrangements for stroke patients compared to usual care. Integrated care was defined as a multidisciplinary tool to improve the quality and efficiency of evidence-based care and is used as a communication tool between professionals to manage and standardize the outcome-orientated care. Methods: A systematic literature review of cost analyses and economic evaluations was performed. Study characteristics, study quality and results were summarized. Results: Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria; six on early-supported discharge services, four on home-based rehabilitation, two on stroke units and three on stroke services. The follow-up per patient was generally short; one year or less. The comparators and the scope of included costs varied between studies. Conclusions: Six out of six studies provided evidence that the costs of early-supported discharge are less than for conventional care, at similar health outcomes. Home-based rehabilitation is unlikely to lead to cost-savings, but achieves better health outcomes. Care in stroke units is more expensive than conventional care, but leads to improved health outcomes. The cost-effectiveness studies on integrated stroke services suggest that they can reduce costs. For future research we recommend to focus on the moderate and severely affected patients, include stroke severity as variable, adopt a societal costing perspective and include long-term costs and effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Assessment of patients' views are essential to provide a patient-centred health service and to evaluating quality of care. As no standardized and validated system for measuring patients' experiences in accident and emergency departments existed, we have developed the Consumer Quality index for the accident and emergency department (CQI A&E). Methods: Qualitative research has been undertaken to determine the content validity of the CQI A&E. In order to assess psychometric characteristics an 84-item questionnaire was sent to 653 patients who had attended a large A&E in the Netherlands. Also, fifty importance questions were added to determine relevance of the questions and for future calculations of improvement scores. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to detect the domains of the questionnaire. Results: Survey data of 304 (47%) patients were used for the analysis. The first exploratory factor analysis resulted in three domains based on 13 items: 'Attitude of the healthcare professionals', 'Environment and impression of the A&E' and 'Respect for and explanation to the patient'. The first two had an acceptable internal consistency. The second analysis, included 24 items grouped into 5 domains: 'Attitude of the healthcare professionals', 'Information and explanation', 'Environment of the A&E','Leaving the A&E' and 'General information and rapidity of care'. All factors were internal consistent. According to the patients, the three most important aspects in healthcare performance in the A&E were: trust in the competence of the healthcare professionals, hygiene in the A&E and patients' health care expectations. In general, the highest improvement scores concerned patient information. Conclusions: The Consumer Quality index for the accident and emergency department measures patients' experiences of A&E healthcare performance. Preliminary psychometric characteristics are sufficient to justify further research into reliability and validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Pain is one of the six general discriminators of the Manchester triage system (MTS). The frequency of pain assessments conducted at triage with the MTS, and patient, nurse and triage characteristics associated with pain assessments were studied. Also, nurses' reasons for not assessing pain at triage were studied. Methods The study consisted of two parts. In part 1, nurses from two emergency departments (ED) registered patient characteristics and the process of triage for every presenting patient during 1 week in May 2009. The characteristics of triage nurses were registered on a second form. In part 2 of the study, 13 nurses were interviewed about reasons for not assessing pain at triage. Results According to the MTS guidelines, pain assessments should have been conducted in 86.1% of the patient presentations. It was only assessed in 32.2% of these patients. Characteristics associated with conducting pain assessments were children under 12 years of age, patients referred by others than a general practitioner or ambulance service, intake of medication before an ED visit, experience of the nurse with the MTS and the duration of triage. Reasons for not assessing pain according to the guidelines included the thought of triage nurses that pain assessments result in overtriage. Conclusions Pain assessments at triage are conducted infrequently because of insufficient education, conducting activities at triage that are not necessary for estimating urgency and a lack of clarity in the MTS guidelines. Changes in these areas are necessary to improve the reliability and validity of pain assessments and the MTS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In 2003, the first US-trained physician assistant (PA) was employed in the Netherlands because of difficulties in recruiting general practitioners (GP). Our study describes the use of this PA. Methods: We studied clinical activities of GP care for number and type of contacts, diagnoses, drug prescriptions, and new referrals, in a general practice in the Netherlands, before and after the introduction of the PA. Data were obtained from electronic medical records. Results: The total number of contacts per 1,000 patients increased by 17.0%. Measured per full time equivalent (FTE) of a GP, the number of GP contacts decreased slightly (2.3%). Type of contacts, diagnoses, drug prescriptions, and new referrals to primary care of the GPs changed significantly, although changes were small. The number of PA contacts per 1 FTE PA was about 60% of that of the GPs, with clinical activities overlapping substantially. Nevertheless, there were significant differences in type of contacts, diagnoses and drug prescriptions. The PA saw more women, children, and patients aged 25-44 years; performed more practice consultations, made more women's health-related diagnoses, and prescribed more drugs for dermatological and respiratory problems. Conclusions: Our study suggests that this PA improved access to GP care. The PA did not lead to a major decrease in the GPs' workload or major redefinition of the GP role. Overall, the range of the PA's clinical activities was comparable to that of the GPs. However, the PA seems to have treated more acute cases. Aside from these results, our study provides avenues for more research on PAs in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Demand-oriented care has recently become a key topic in the area of care provision, fitting into the modern pursuit for patient autonomy. This paper introduces a measuring instrument to assess demand-orientation in mental health care.Method: A concept mapping procedure was used to understand the concept of demand-orientation. The resulting items were introduced to a validating sample of 204 patients of three mental health facilities. After factor analysis, a 19-item General-Demand Orientated Care Questionnaire (DOC-G), and a supplementary questionnaire (DOC-S) containing 6 sections remained. This questionnaire was submitted to confirmatory analysis in a random sample (n = 304) of psychiatric patients.Results: Respondents were predominantly female (57.6%), of Dutch ethnic origin (84.1%), and outpatients (71.4%). The analyses confirmed the 4-factor structure of the questionnaire. Both internal and external validity of the instrument proved to be sufficient. The questionnaire discriminated in the experience of demand-orientation of care between patients who did and those who did not have a treatment plan put up; between those who did and those who did not have a crisis plan, and between those who had a lifetime prevalence of undergoing compulsory treatment, and those who had not.Conclusions: We conclude that the DOC is a useful instrument to measure demand-orientation in a population of psychiatric patients. It is useful to measure changes in care quality. The supplementary questionnaires make it possible to evaluate chosen projects or subprojects quickly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although timely treatment of COPD exacerbations seems clinically important, nearly half of these exacerbations remain unreported and subsequently untreated. Recent studies have investigated incidence and impact of failure to seek medical treatment during exacerbations. Yet, little is known about type and timing of other self-management actions in periods of symptom deterioration. The current prospective study aims at determining the relative incidence, timing and determinants of three types of patient responses.Methods: In a multicentre observational study, 121 patients (age 67 ± 11 years, FEV1pred. 48 ± 19) were followed for 6 weeks by daily diary symptom recording. Three types of action were assessed daily: planning periods of rest, breathing techniques and/or sputum clearing (type-A), increased bronchodilator use (type-B) and contacting a healthcare provider (type-C).Results: Type-A action was taken in 70.7%, type-B in 62.7% and type C in 17.3% of exacerbations (n = 75). Smokers were less likely to take type-A and B actions. Type-C actions were associated with more severe airflow limitation and increased number of hospital admissions in the last year.Conclusions: Our study shows that most patients are willing to take timely self-management actions during exacerbations. Future research is needed to determine whether the low incidence of contacting a healthcare provider is due to a lack of self-management or healthcare accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early treatment of COPD exacerbations has shown to be important. Despite a non-negligible negative impact on health related quality of life, a large proportion of these episodes is not reported (no change in treatment). Little is known whether (low burden) strategies are able to capture these unreported exacerbations.Methods: The Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) is a short questionnaire with great evaluative properties in measuring health status. The current explorative study evaluates the discriminative properties of weekly CCQ assessment in detecting exacerbations.Results: In a multicentre prospective cohort study, 121 patients, age 67.4 ± 10.5 years, FEV1 47.7 ± 18.5% pred were followed for 6 weeks by daily diary card recording and weekly CCQ assessment. Weeks were retrospectively labeled as stable or exacerbation (onset) weeks using the Anthonisen symptom diary-card algorithm. Change in CCQ total scores are significantly higher in exacerbation-onset weeks, 0.35 ± 0.69 compared to -0.04 ± 0.37 in stable weeks (p < 0.001). Performance of the Δ CCQ total score discriminating between stable and exacerbation onset weeks was sufficient (area under the ROC curve 0.75). At a cut off point of 0.2, sensitivity was 62.5 (50.3-73.4), specificity 82.0 (79.3-84.4), and a positive and negative predictive value of 43.5 (35.0-51.0) and 90.8 (87.8-93.5), respectively. Using this cut off point, 22 (out of 38) unreported exacerbations were detected while 39 stable patients would have been false positively 'contacted'.Conclusions: Weekly CCQ assessment is a promising, low burden method to detect unreported exacerbations. Further research is needed to validate discriminative performance and practical implications of the CCQ in detecting exacerbations in daily care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Determine whether the early detection of parenting problems and developmental problems in young children improves with the help of a validated structured interview., Design: Non-randomized controlled trial held from December 2006 until January 2008., Setting: Preventive child health care services in the Netherlands., Participants: 4438 eligible 18-month-old children and their parents., Interventions: A visit to the well-baby clinic with and without (usual care) the use of a validated structured interview for the early detection of parenting problems and developmental problems in young children: the Structured Problem Analysis of Raising Kids., Outcome Measures: The primary outcome consists of the difference in the number of 18-month-old children with high or increased risk for parenting and developmental problems. Secondary outcomes are the differences in care needs as expressed by child health care nurses, the percentage of parents and other children of the family attending, follow-up actions, the scores of parent report questionnaires and the time needed for the consultation. Data were analyzed by means of ordinal regression with propensity score adjustment., Results: Certain discrepancies were noticed: during usual care visits, nurses found fewer children with high (1.2 versus 2.6%) or increased risk (14.5 versus 20.7%) than during visits in which the Structured Problem Analysis of Raising Kids was used (p=0.002), but they also indicated that more help was needed. Conversely, no additional contacts were advised for 25% of the children whom the nurses in the care-as-usual group labelled as high risk, while all high-risk children visited with the Structured Problem Analysis of Raising Kids received additional contacts., Conclusions: The Structured Problem Analysis of Raising Kids, a validated structured interview, improves the early detection of parenting and child-developmental problems in young children, compared to regular visits without an instrument. Structuring the collection of information about parents' concerns and care needs gives nurses information beyond their professional viewpoint and results in joint decisions that better match parental care needs and risk levels determined., Trial Registration: www.trialregister.nl. Identifier: NTR1413., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Measuring patients' experiences to determine health-care performance and quality of care from their perspective can provide valuable evidence for international improvements in the quality of care. We compare patients' experiences in Accident & Emergency departments (A&E) in England and the Netherlands and discuss the usefulness of this comparison., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among patients attending A&Es aged 18 years and older. In England, 134 A&Es were surveyed. In the Netherlands, nine hospitals participated in the study. Main outcome measures were patients' experiences represented by six domain scores aggregated on the country level or on the A&E level., Results: In England, 43 892 completed questionnaires were received (40%). In the Netherlands, 1865 completed questionnaires were received (42%). Three of six domain scores were significantly higher for patients in the Netherlands: 'waiting time' [mean scores of 73.8 (NL) versus 67.2 (ENG)], 'doctors and nurses' [mean scores of 85.7 (NL) versus 80.6 (ENG)] and 'your care and treatment' [mean scores of 82.6 (NL) and 80.2 (ENG)]. The variance among the English A&Es was large. The best and worst practices on five domains were English., Conclusions: The mean quality of care in the A&E appeared to be better in the Netherlands on three domains, but the best practices were English A&Es. The within-country differences between A&Es were much larger than differences between countries. Healthcare performance in the A&E can be compared between countries by surveying patients' experiences, and there seems much to learn across A&Es both within and among countries., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: The early detection of parenting and developmental problems by preventive child health care (CHC) services in the Netherlands takes place almost exclusively at the well-baby clinic. This study assesses whether, compared to a visit to the well-baby clinic, a home visit improves early detection., Methods: 4481 eligible 18-month-old children and their parents were randomized to either a visit to the well-baby clinic or a home visit in the period from December 2006 to January 2008. A CHC nurse held structured interviews using the validated Structured Problem Analysis of Raising Kids (SPARK). Differences in the percentage of children with high or increased risks of parenting and developmental problems as assessed by the SPARK were analyzed with ordinal regression. Secondary outcomes included the percentage of parents attending, parents' concerns, needs assessment by parents and CHC professionals and user experience., Results: Response rates were 94.0% for the home visit group and 93.2% for the well-baby clinic group. Using the SPARK at home identified significantly more high-risk children compared to clinic visits (3.7 vs. 2.6%) and fewer children with increased risk (19.1 vs. 20.7%; overall p=0.028). Home visits more often involved both parents and other children. At home, parents reported more concerns. Both parents and CHC nurses more often expressed the need for support and reported significantly better experiences at home., Conclusions: Aided by a validated structured interview, CHC professionals detect more children with high risks of parenting and child-developmental problems during home visits than during clinic visits., Clinical Trial Registration: www.trialregister.nl Identifier: NTR1413., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Patients' experiences are an indicator of health-care performance in the accident and emergency department (A&E). The Consumer Quality Index for the Accident and Emergency department (CQI A&E), a questionnaire to assess the quality of care as experienced by patients, was investigated. The internal consistency, construct validity and discriminative capacity of the questionnaire were examined., Methods: In the Netherlands, twenty-one A&Es participated in a cross-sectional survey, covering 4883 patients. The questionnaire consisted of 78 questions. Principal components analysis determined underlying domains. Internal consistency was determined by Cronbach's alpha coefficients, construct validity by Pearson's correlation coefficients and the discriminative capacity by intraclass correlation coefficients and reliability of A&E-level mean scores (G-coefficient)., Results: Seven quality domains emerged from the principal components analysis: information before treatment, timeliness, attitude of health-care professionals, professionalism of received care, information during treatment, environment and facilities, and discharge management. Domains were internally consistent (range: 0.67-0.84). Five domains and the 'global quality rating' had the capacity to discriminate among A&Es (significant intraclass correlation coefficient). Four domains and the 'global quality rating' were close to or above the threshold for reliably demonstrating differences among A&Es. The patients' experiences score on the domain timeliness showed the largest range between the worst- and best-performing A&E., Conclusions: The CQI A&E is a validated survey to measure health-care performance in the A&E from patients' perspective. Five domains regarding quality of care aspects and the 'global quality rating' had the capacity to discriminate among A&Es., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: As child maltreatment has a major impact, prevention and early detection of parenting problems are of great importance. We have developed a structured interview which uses parents' concerns for a joint needs assessment by parents and a child health care nurse, followed by a professional judgment on the risk level of future parenting and developmental problems: the Structured Problem Analysis of Raising Kids (SPARK). Previous results have shown that the risk assessment of the SPARK is associated with risk factors for child maltreatment. This study reports the predictive value of the SPARK for reports on high impact parenting problems and child abuse and neglect., Method: Cross-sectional study with a 1.5-year follow-up based on 1,850 18-month old children, living in Zeeland, a province of the Netherlands. Data on the SPARK were obtained in the period of June 2007 to March 2008. Outcomes of the SPARK were in October 2009 compared to reports of the Advice and Reporting Centers for Child Abuse and Neglect (ARCAN) and Youth Care Agency (YCA). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was done using the risk assessment, parents' concerns, the perceived need for support and known risk factors as predictors., Results: The overall risk assessment of the SPARK is the strongest predictor for reports to ARCAN and YCA in the 1.5 years after completing the SPARK (odds ratio of high versus low risk: 16.3 [95% confidence interval: 5.2-50.8]. Controlling for the risk assessment, only the sum of known risk factors and an unemployed father remained as significant predictors. The reported groups differ significantly from the children without a report with regard to family characteristics, but not with regard to child characteristics., Conclusions: A structured assessment of the concerns and care needs of toddlers' parents by a child health care nurse is a valuable predictor of reports on child abuse and neglect and serious parenting problems in toddlers., Practical Implications: Systematically exploring and evaluating parental concerns with an instrument like the SPARK can contribute to the early recognition of families at risk for major child rearing problems., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Recent studies increasingly show adolescent health-related behaviors to be interrelated, interacting synergistically and sharing several common determinants. Therefore, research increasingly focuses on studying interventions that target a range of health behaviors simultaneously. This report describes the results of a pilot study of a secondary school-based, health-promoting intervention that simultaneously targets a range of adolescent health behaviors via a whole-school approach., Methods: We collected self-reported behavioral data via an annual online questionnaire to 336 students. We collected data before the intervention implementation and after the intervention's first completed, 3-year curriculum cycle on the fourth-grade students (15- to 16-year-olds). We analyzed differences between pre- and postintervention groups., Results: Significant behavioral changes were reported for extreme alcohol use, smoking, sedentary time, and bullying behaviors. Certain behaviors were significantly different only in girls: namely, weekly alcohol use, ever having used cannabis, compulsive Internet or computer use score, compulsive gaming score, and recent bully victimization. Differences in several sedentary time behaviors (television watching and Internet or computer use) were significant only in boys. No changes were reported regarding body mass index; physical activity; or the time spent on, or the compulsiveness of, video game playing. In addition, the postintervention group showed significantly fewer psychosocial problems., Conclusions: The intervention successfully changed student health behaviors on many accounts. It remains largely unclear as to what causes the different effects for boys and girls. Further studies regarding multiple health behavior targeting interventions for adolescents are required., (Copyright © 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Object of this study was to evaluate the effect of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) on trauma patient mortality and the effect of prehospital time on the association between HEMS and mortality., Materials and Methods: Trauma patients admitted to a level 1 trauma centre and treated on-scene by the HEMS and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) between 2003 and 2008 were included (n = 186). A control group treated by EMS only (n = 186) was created by matching on ISS, age and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Mortality was compared by calculating odds ratios (OR) and numbers needed to treat (NNT), with adjustment for prehospital coded Revised Trauma Score. The effect of prehospital time mortality was tested by a logistic regression. Analyses were made for patients with and without TBI., Results: The OR of early trauma fatality for the HEMS/EMS versus EMS-only groups was 0.8 for patients both with TBI (95% CI 0.4-1.7; NNT: 22) and without TBI (95% CI 0.2-3.3; NNT: 273). The risk of in-hospital mortality was non-significantly higher for patients with TBI in the HEMS/EMS group (OR = 1.3; 95% CI 0.6-2.7; NNT: -15) compared to the EMS-only group and non-significantly lower for patients without TBI (OR = 0.9; 95% CI 0.3-2.5; NNT: 129). After adjustment for prehospital time, the risk of early trauma fatality for patients with TBI treated by the HEMS decreased (OR = 0.6; 95% CI 0.3-1.6). The risk of in-hospital mortality for these patients decreased from 1.3 to 0.8 (95% CI 0.4-2.0). The effect of the HEMS on patients without TBI did not change after adjustment for prehospital time., Discussion: HEMS treatment is associated with a non-significantly higher risk of in-hospital mortality for patients with TBI and a non-significantly lower risk for patients without TBI. This increased risk of mortality in TBI patients is attributable to the increased prehospital time. These results indicate that HEMS does not have a positive impact on survival., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Patients triaged in category 5 of the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) do not need any resources before discharge from the emergency department (ED). We studied the characteristics of these patients and focused on those who were admitted or sent to the outpatient department after their ED visit., Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted on 117 740 patient presentations. Patients were included in the study when they were triaged with the ESI and presented to one of the two EDs under study between 1 September 2004 and 1 June 2006., Results: Overall, 22.2% of the patients were triaged in ESI 5. Patients aged less than 40 years, women, and self-referred patients were most likely triaged in ESI 5, as well as patients presenting with complaints such as 'checkup appointments at the ED' and 'complaints of the skin'. Patients triaged in ESI 5 who were admitted or sent to the outpatient department were most likely elderly (aged above 65 years) and referred patients. They were also more likely to present with complaints such as 'postoperative complications, wound care problems, and plaster problems' and 'complaints of the genitourinary system'., Conclusion: Although younger patients and women were more likely triaged in ESI 5, patients within this category who were admitted or sent to the outpatient department were more likely elderly and referred patients. Being admitted or sent to the outpatient department and triaged in ESI 5 indicates undertriage. Revision of the system is required to properly account for these patient groups.

Background: Early detection of exacerbations by COPD patients initiating prompt interventions has shown to be clinically relevant. Until now, research failed to identify the effectiveness of a written individualized Action Plan (AP) to achieve this., Methods/design: The current multicenter, single-blind RCT with a follow-up period of 6 months, evaluates the hypothesis that individualized AP's reduce exacerbation recovery time. Patients are included from regular respiratory nurse clinics and allocated to either usual care or the AP intervention. The AP provides individualized treatment prescriptions (pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical) related to a color coded symptom status (reinforcement at 1 and 4 months). Although usually not possible in self-management trials, we ensured blinding of patients, using a modified informed consent procedure in which patients give consent to postponed information. Exacerbations in both study arms are defined using the Anthonisen symptom diary-card algorithm. The Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) is assessed every 3-days. CCQ-recovery time of an exacerbation is the primary study outcome. Additionally, healthcare utilization, anxiety, depression, treatment delay, and self-efficacy are assessed at baseline and 6 months. We aim at including 245 COPD patients from 7 hospitals and 5 general practices to capture the a-priori sample size of at least 73 exacerbations per study arm., Discussion: This RCT identifies if an AP is an effective component of self-management in patients with COPD and clearly differentiates from existing studies in its design, outcome measures and generalizability of the results considering that the study is carried out in multiple sites including general practices.