Health Care Atlases: Informing the General Public About the Situation of the Austrian Health Care System.

There is a great number of complex data concerning the Austrian Health Care System. The goal was to process this data and present it to the general public on an easily accessible information platform. The platform focuses on data about the burden of disease of the Austrian Population, the available medical care and the services provided by the physicians. Due to the vast differences in the underlying source data, the methods used for the data acquisition range from statistical linkage over web scraping to aggregating data on the reimbursed services. The results are published on a website and are mainly displayed with interactive graphics. Overall, these dynamic and interactive websites provide a good overview of the situation of the Austrian Health Care System and presents the information in an intuitive and comprehensible manner. Furthermore, the information given in the atlases can contribute to the health care planning in order to identify distinctive service provision in Austria.

[Frequency of using the bedpan in acute care]. / Die Häufigkeit der Bettpfannenbenutzung im Akutspital.

Although the bedpan is a subject of everyday nursing practice, little research was found concerning this issue. Patients often describe that the use of the bedpan is uncomfortable and painful. Studies also underline that using a bedpan is very embarrassing and shameful for the patients. Their privacy is violated considerably. In this quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study, the frequency and duration of use of the bedpan was measured in acute care. 362 women and 367 men were included in the study, 18.2 % of them needed the bedpan for a certain time. It was used more often during the night than during the day, departmental differences were also identified. Women used the bedpan most at the orthopedic and medical wards, followed by the prenatal ward (for urine). Men from surgical wards used the bedpan most (12.3 %), followed by medical wards (8.3 %). Most patients required assistance while using the bedpan. Because of this the resulting workload for nurses should be underestimated. The introduction of alternative urine drainage systems could lead to more autonomy of patients and might reduce the workload for nurses.

[Preventive measures for the prophylaxis of contractures in geriatric nursing. A systematic review]. / Präventive Maßnahmen zur Kontrakturprophylaxe in der geriatrischen Pflege. Eine systematische Übersichtsarbeit.

Contractures constitute a health problem in mobility-restricted geriatric patients. Contractures are clinically important due to their impact on functional outcome. Prophylactic interventions seem to be indispensable. We performed a systematic review studying the interventions used to prevent immobility-related contractures in the geriatric long-term care. The efficacy and safety of preventive methods was assessed. Electronic literature searches covered the databases PubMed, PEDro, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library (May 2010). Eligibility criteria for studies were: Investigation of an intervention aimed to prevent contractures, conducted in a geriatric and long-term care setting, inclusion of participants aged>65 years. The primary search focused on RCTs, systematic reviews und meta-analysis published between 1990 and May 2010 in English or German. The included studies were analysed and evaluated by one author while a second author checked the results. Methodological quality was critically evaluated using internationally accepted criteria. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Prophylactic interventions comprise mobility-encouraging and position-supportive interventions. Mobility-encouraging interventions aim to prevent contractures and immobility, for example offering range-of-motion exercises. Position-supportive interventions are transformations of motion and position, which are conducted with nurses' support. Due to limited methodological quality of these studies, the efficacy of certain measures remains unclear. Further studies on contracture prophylaxis investigating patient-relevant outcomes, interventions' adverse effects and costs are required.