Incidence of reported near-death experiences (NDEs) has increased over decades; however, they continue to be inappropriately pathologized or dismissed. These types of responses to disclosures of NDEs by patients can potentially lead to them having problems integrating the experience into their lives. The purpose of this study was to assess…

This study reaffirms our previous work documenting a higher number of Emergency Department (ED) visits by adolescent females with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as compared to adolescent males with ASD, as well as significantly more ED visits by older adolescents than younger adolescents with ASD. Combined externalizing and internalizing…

Context/Purpose: Most rural hospitals can provide medical care to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients, but a need for advanced cardiac care requires timely transfer to a tertiary hospital. There is little information on AMI in-hospital mortality predictors among rural transfer patients. Methods: Cross-sectional retrospective analyses on…

Primary care providers (PCPs) usually do not explore patient suicidality during routine visits. Factors that predict PCP attitudes toward the assessment and treatment of suicidality were examined via an online survey of 195 practicing PCPs affiliated with medical schools in the United States. PCPs who perceived themselves as competent to work with…

Objective: To compare pediatric mental health emergency department visits to other pediatric emergency department visits, focusing on length of stay. Method: We analyzed data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a nationally representative sample of US emergency department visits from 2001 to 2008, for patients aged less than…

A recent randomized controlled trial found nearly equivalent response rates for antidepressant medications and cognitive therapy in a sample of moderate to severely depressed outpatients. In this article, the authors seek to identify the variables that were associated with response across both treatments as well as variables that predicted…

This study examined the influence of surrogate gender on the accuracy of substituted judgments about the use of life-sustaining treatment in a sample of 249 older adults and their self-selected surrogate decision-makers. Overall, wives were more accurate than husbands at predicting their spouses' treatment wishes. Surrogates' perceptions of their…

Objective: To determine the effects of symptom profile, comorbid psychiatric problems, and treatment on occupational outcome in adult ADHD patients. Method: Adult ADHD patients (N = 414) responded to questionnaires rating past and present symptoms of ADHD, comorbid conditions, treatment history, and work status. Results: Of the patients, 24%…

Hospice care is available for 6 months before death but the length of use varies widely, suggesting that there are different perspectives on the appropriate timing for this transition. This qualitative study explored hospice professionals' views on the appropriate timing for and communication about hospice. Ethnography of team meetings informed…

Using a cross-sectional design of 400 primary care patients with diabetes, the authors evaluated demographics, health status, subjective health and mental health, health behaviors, health beliefs, knowledge of diabetes treatment, satisfaction with medical care, and quality of medical care as potential predictors of QoL and QoL in the hypothetical…

Background: There has been no longitudinal study in Taiwan to identify the nature and the scale of medical care utilization of people with intellectual disabilities (IDs) up to the present. The aim of this study is to describe inpatient utilization among people under ID care in institutions in order to identify the pattern of medical care needs…

A methodology is outlined that can be used by teaching hospitals in determining their costs of treating patients with a complex mix of diagnoses. It is not held that case mix alone explains all cost differences between teaching and nonteaching hospitals, but that factor must be isolated before examining other variables. (Author/LBH)

Purpose: For depressed older primary care patients, this study aimed to examine (a) characteristics associated with depression treatment preferences; (b) predictors of receiving preferred treatment; and (c) whether receiving preferred treatment predicted satisfaction and depression outcomes. Design and Methods: Data are from 1,602 depressed older…

Background: Gender bias has been reported in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with a variety of illnesses. In the context of our 10-station fourth year Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation, we queried whether this could influence diagnosis in a geriatric case. Case writers hypothesized that, due to this bias, the female standardized…