What is it about?
Hospital standardized mortality is an important way to detect examples of gross poor care. However, there are systematic changes in hospital mortality which show on/off switching which seemingly has nothing to do with hospital care. The on/off switching is revealed by employing a rolling (moving) 12-month average, acting as a frequency filter, which reflects wider space-time (spatiotemporal) variation in deaths within the population surrounding the hospital. Transmission of an infectious agent is implicated.
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Why is it important?
Hospital mortality is influenced by a wide variety of factors other than the quality of care. Hospital managers and directors can make inappropriate responses to increases in-hospital mortality. A simple chart allows doctors and managers to discern if the changes are due to external causes.
Perspectives
This is part of a far wider study into unexplained changes in mortality and morbidity seemingly arising from transmission of a new type or kind of disease which appears to work via sub-acute immune manipulation. See http://www.hcaf.biz/2010/Publications_Full.pdf
Dr Rodney P Jones
Healthcare Analysis & Forecasting
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Unexpected trends in hospital standardized mortality indicate a novel cause, European Journal of Internal Medicine, March 2018, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejim.2018.02.018.
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