Perceived quality in a dementia unit: patients' caregivers as information providers. / Calidad percibida en una unidad de demencias: el portavoz del paciente como proveedor de información.

INTRODUCTION: Dementia units (DU) provide comprehensive and specialised care to patients with dementia. However, assessment in these units normally focuses on patient management. The aim of this study was to determine satisfaction of the caregivers of patients managed in a DU and how they rated DU care. METHODS: We created a self-administered questionnaire which was completed by 236 caregivers visiting the DU in 2015. The questionnaire included 6 dimensions (accessibility, organisation, professionalism, relationship with staff, information, and facilities); data were analysed using problem rates. RESULTS: A total of 53.4% caregivers completed the questionnaire; most were women, patients' spouses, or first-degree relatives. The overall problem rates was 15.0% (95% CI, 13.9-16.1), with sizeable differences between dimensions: from 0.1% (95% CI, 0.0-0.4) for 'relationship with staff' and 'professionalism' to 49.3% (95% CI, 45.4-53.2) for 'information'. Waiting times over 30minutes were perceived as excessive. Information problems were not directly related to patient management. Satisfaction was scored 8.29/10 (median 8; SD 1.45); 77.3% (95% CI, 69.8-74.8) of respondents were highly satisfied. Ninety-nine percent of the caregivers stated that they would recommend the DU. CONCLUSIONS: This questionnaire provides interesting data on care quality as perceived by patients' caregivers. Our results have allowed us to identify problems and implement corrective actions. Our questionnaire has proved to be a useful tool for evaluating and improving care quality in DUs.

[Classification and monitoring of the appropriateness of emergency admissions in a tertiary hospital]. / Estratificación y monitorización de niveles de adecuación de ingresos urgentes en un hospital de tercer nivel.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the appropriateness of hospital admissions, to classify its Clinical Services (CS) according to the level of inappropriateness, and to determine the usefulness of applying rapid assessment techniques (lot quality assurance sampling) in these types of measurements. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A descriptive, retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary hospital to assess the clinical records of emergency admissions to the 12 CS with a higher volume of admissions, using the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP). A four-level («A¼ to «D¼) increasingly inadequate admissions scale was constructed setting both standard and threshold values in every stratum. Every CS was classified in one of them using lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS). A total of 156 cases (13 cases from every CS) were assessed. The assessment effort (devoted time) was also estimated. RESULTS: There were 22.4±6.3% of inadequate admissions. In the CS classification, 9 (75%) got a good or acceptable appropriateness level, and only 1 (8%) got an inacceptable level. The time devoted was estimated at 17 hours. CONCLUSIONS: AEP is useful to assess the admission appropriateness and may be included in the «Emergencies¼ process management, although its variability prevents the use for external comparisons. If both LQAS and the appropriateness classification level and the global estimation (by unifying lot samples) are combined, the monitoring is affordable without a great effort. To extend these tools to other quality indicators requiring direct observation or clinical records, manual assessment could improve the monitoring efficiency.