Post-cardiac Surgery — Effectiveness of Transitional Care Services
Citation(s)
Allen J, Hutchinson AM, Brown R, Livingston PM Quality care outcomes following transitional care interventions for older people from hospital to home: a systematic review. BMC Health Serv Res. 2014 Aug 15;14:346. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-14-346. Review.
Coleman EA Falling through the cracks: challenges and opportunities for improving transitional care for persons with continuous complex care needs. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2003 Apr;51(4):549-55. Review.
Jencks SF, Williams MV, Coleman EA Rehospitalizations among patients in the Medicare fee-for-service program. N Engl J Med. 2009 Apr 2;360(14):1418-28. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa0803563. Erratum in: N Engl J Med. 2011 Apr 21;364(16):1582.
Wee SL, Loke CK, Liang C, Ganesan G, Wong LM, Cheah J Effectiveness of a national transitional care program in reducing acute care use. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014 Apr;62(4):747-53. doi: 10.1111/jgs.12750. Epub 2014 Mar 17.
Can Refinements to Effective Transitional Care Services Improve Outcomes? Results From a Pragmatic, Randomized Controlled Trial.
Interventional studies are often prospective and are specifically tailored to evaluate direct impacts of treatment or preventive measures on disease.
Observational studies are often retrospective and are used to assess potential causation in exposure-outcome relationships and therefore influence preventive methods.
Expanded access is a means by which manufacturers make investigational new drugs available, under certain circumstances, to treat a patient(s) with a serious disease or condition who cannot participate in a controlled clinical trial.
Clinical trials are conducted in a series of steps, called phases - each phase is designed to answer a separate research question.
Phase 1: Researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
Phase 2: The drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Phase 3: The drug or treatment is given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
Phase 4: Studies are done after the drug or treatment has been marketed to gather information on the drug's effect in various populations and any side effects associated with long-term use.
