Introduction: The goals of this retrospective cohort study of 129,443 persons admitted to Calgary acute care hospitals 2013-2021 were to ascertain correlations of “potentially inappropriate medi-cations” (PIMs), “potential prescribing omissions” (PPOs) and other risk factors with readmissions and mortality. Methods: Processing and analysis codes were built in Oracle Database 19c (PL/SQL), R and Excel. Results: The percentage dying during their hospital stay rose from 3.03% during the first to 7.2% during the 6th admission. The percentage dying within 6 months of discharge rose from 9.4% after the first to 24.9 after the sixth admission. Odds ratios (adjusted for age, gender and comorbidities) for readmission were the post-admission number of medications (1.16; 1.12-1.12), STOPP PIMs (1.16; 1.15-1.16); AGS Beers PIMs (1.11; 1.11-1.11) and START omissions not corrected with a prescription (1.39 (1.35-1.42). Odds ratios for mortality were post-admission number of medications (1.04; 1.04-1.05), STOPP PIMs (0.99; 0.96-1.00); AGS Beers PIMs (1.08; 1.07-1.08) and START omissions not corrected with a prescription (1.56 (1.50-1.63). START omissions corrected with a prescription correlated with a dramatic reduction in mortality (0.51; 0.49-0.53). Odds ratios for readmissions for the second through 39th admission were consistently higher if START PPOs were not corrected for the second admission (1.41; 1.36-1.46), third (1.41;1.35-1.48); fourth 1.35;1.28-1.44); fifth 1.38; 1.28-1.49); sixth (1.47;1.34-1.62) and 7th through 39th admission (1.23; 1.14-1.34). For all admissions when a pre-scription was given to correct START PPOs ORs for mortality within six months of discharge were dramatically improved (0.51; 0.49-0.53). This was also true for the second (0.52; 0.50-0.55; fourth (0.56; 0.52-0.61; fifth (0.63; 0.57-0.68); sixth (0.68; 0.61-0.76); and 7th through 39th admissions (0.71; 0.65-0.78). Conclusions: PPOs should be corrected by prescriptions and teams of family physicians, pharmacists and nurses should focus on patients’ understanding of their illnesses, medications and ability for self-care.

Background/Objectives: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common emergency presentation in Australia, with the choice of admitting specialty unit often influenced by pneumonia severity and comorbidities. However, it remains unclear whether there are between-specialty differences in patient characteristics and outcomes. We sought to address this issue by investigating the characteristics and outcomes of CAP patients admitted to General Medicine (GM) versus Respiratory units.Methods: This retrospective observational study utilised data from the two largest metropolitan hospitals in South Australia, encompassing all non-COVID-19-related CAP admissions throughout 2021 to 2023. Hospital length of stay (LOS), in-patient and 30-day mortality, and 30-day readmission rates were assessed by propensity-score-matching (PSM) with using 14 variables.Results: Of the 3,004 cases of non-COVID-19 CAP admitted across the two hospitals during the study period, 2,673 (71.8%) were admitted under GM units and 331 (9.1%) under Respiratory units. GM patients were, on average, a decade older, presented with a significantly higher burden of comorbidities, exhibited a greater prevalence of frailty and had higher pneumonia severity compared to those admitted under a Respiratory unit, (P

Background: This study investigated the incidence, characteristics and functional outcomes associated with unplanned Acute Care Unit Readmissions (ACUR) during inpatient traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation in an Asian cohort. Methods: Retrospective review of electronic medical records from single rehabilitation unit was conducted from 1 Jan 2012 to 31 Dec 2014. Inclusion criteria were first TBI, aged >18 years, admitted < 6 months of TBI. ACUR were characterized into either of neurological, medical or neurosurgical subtypes. The main outcome measure was discharge Functional Independence Measure (FIM). Secondary outcomes included rehabilitation length of stay (RLOS). Results: Of 121 eligible TBI records, the incidence of ACUR was 14% (n=17), comprising neurologic (76.5%) and medical (23.5%) subtypes, occurring at median of 13 days (IQR 6, 28.5) after rehabilitation admission. Patients without ACUR had significantly higher admission mean (SD) FIM score compared to those with ACUR (FIM ACUR-negative 63.4 (21.1) vs FIM ACUR-positive 50.53(25.4), P =0.026). Significantly lower discharge FIM was noted in those with ACUR compared to those without. (FIM ACUR-positive 65.8(31.4) vs FIM ACUR-negative 85.4 (21.1), P = 0.023) Furthermore, a significant near-doubling of RLOS was noted in ACUR patients compared to non-ACUR counterparts [ACUR-positive median 55 days (IQR 34.50, 87.50) vs ACUR-negative median 28 days (IQR 16.25, 40.00), P = 0.002]. Conclusion: This study highlights the significant negative functional impact and lengthening of rehabilitation duration of ACUR on inpatient rehabilitation outcome for TBI.