Once a vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 becomes available, it will be important to maximize vaccine uptake and coverage. This national survey explores factors associated with vaccine hesitancy. The results suggest that multipronged efforts will be needed to increase acceptance of a coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine.
Patients will probably respond more favorably to physicians who fully disclose medical errors than to physicians who are less forthright, but the specifics of the case and the severity of the clinical outcome also affect patients' responses. In some circumstances, the desire to seek legal advice may not diminish despite full disclosure.
Findings suggest that response bias may significantly impact the results of patient satisfaction surveys, leading to overestimation of the level of satisfaction in the patient population overall. Estimates of satisfaction may be most inflated for providers with the least satisfied patients, thereby threatening the validity of provider-level comparisons.
Objective
We sought to examine patients’ and providers’ views on the treatment of gout to better understand why management is suboptimal.
Methods
In-depth telephone interviews were conducted with gout patients (n=26) who initiated treatment with a urate-lowering drug (ULD) in the prior 6 months and with providers who care for gout patients (n=15). The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Using qualitative methods, results were analyzed and themes were identified. Interviews focused on the acute management, chronic management, and prevention and improvement strategies.
Results
Providers viewed the majority of patients as having excellent relief with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, colchicine and glucocorticoids while some patients felt these medications were ineffective. Providers felt most patients had a good understanding of the rationale for ULD therapy and that patients responded well. Some patients felt ULDs triggered, worsened or had no impact on their disease. Most providers thought medication adherence was relatively good. Some patients reported discontinuing medications. Discontinuations were largely purposeful and due to clinical or financial concerns. Most providers thought their skills adequate to teach disease self-management behaviors. Patients requested more information and longer visit times.
Conclusions
Providers view gout as easily managed while patients report challenges and purposeful nonadherence.
Cancer patients who believe they experienced a preventable, harmful event during their cancer diagnosis or care often do not formally report their concerns. Systems are needed to encourage patients to report such events and to help physicians and health care systems respond effectively.
Empirical research on disclosure of medical errors to patients and families has been limited, and studies have focused primarily on the decision stage of disclosure. Fewer have considered the disclosure process, the consequences of disclosure, or the relationship between the two. Additional research is needed to understand how disclosure decisions are made, to provide guidance to physicians on the process, and to help all involved anticipate the consequences of disclosure.
IMPORTANCE Meta-analyses have suggested that initiating pulmonary rehabilitation after an exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was associated with improved survival, although the number of patients studied was small and heterogeneity was high. Current guidelines recommend that patients enroll in pulmonary rehabilitation after hospital discharge. OBJECTIVE To determine the association between the initiation of pulmonary rehabilitation within 90 days of hospital discharge and 1-year survival. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS This retrospective, inception cohort study used claims data from fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for COPD in 2014, at 4446 acute care hospitals in the US. The final date of follow-up was December 31, 2015. EXPOSURES Initiation of pulmonary rehabilitation within 90 days of hospital discharge. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was all-cause mortality at 1 year. Time from discharge to death was modeled using Cox regression with time-varying exposure to pulmonary rehabilitation, adjusting for mortality and for unbalanced characteristics and propensity to initiate pulmonary rehabilitation. Additional analyses evaluated the association between timing of pulmonary rehabilitation and mortality and between number of sessions completed and mortality. RESULTS Of 197 376 patients (mean age, 76.9 years; 115 690 [58.6%] women), 2721 (1.5%) initiated pulmonary rehabilitation within 90 days of discharge. A total of 38 302 (19.4%) died within 1 year of discharge, including 7.3% of patients who initiated pulmonary rehabilitation within 90 days and 19.6% of patients who initiated pulmonary rehabilitation after 90 days or not at all. Initiation within 90 days was significantly associated with lower risk of death over 1 year (absolute risk difference [ARD],-6.7% [95% CI,-7.9% to-5.6%]; hazard ratio [HR], 0.63 [95% CI, 0.57 to 0.69]; P < .001). Initiation of pulmonary rehabilitation was significantly associated with lower mortality across start dates ranging from 30 days or less (ARD,-4.6% [95% CI,-5.9% to-3.2%]; HR, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.67 to 0.82]; P < .001) to 61 to 90 days after discharge (ARD,-11.1% [95% CI,-13.2% to-8.4%]; HR, 0.40 [95% CI, 0.30 to 0.54]; P < .001). Every 3 additional sessions was significantly associated with lower risk of death (HR, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.85 to 0.98]; P = .01). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for COPD, initiation of pulmonary rehabilitation within 3 months of discharge was significantly associated with lower risk of mortality at 1 year. These findings support current guideline recommendations for pulmonary rehabilitation after hospitalization for COPD, although the potential for residual confounding exists and further research is needed.
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