Hospital Practices and Research

Temporal Series Analysis on Avoidable Mortality for the Assessment of an Intervention Program in a Hospital

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Jose L. Alfonso-Sanchez 1, 2
Belen Alfonso-Landete 1
Maria Martinez-Martinez 3

1 Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

2 Preventive Medicine and Occupational Risk Prevention Services, University General Hospital of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

3 Nursery College, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain

https://doi.org/10.15171/hpr.2017.02
Abstract
Background: Avoidable mortality (AM) is one of the most important health indicators (HI) and represents the quality of care in a hospital.
Objective: This study measured the efficacy of a training program for a hospital healthcare staff to reduce AM.
Methods: This epidemiological study on community intervention analyzed time-series data on HI by semesters from 2008 to 2015. The pre-intervention phase was examined from January 2008 to December 2014; the intervention phase was investigated in the first semester of 2015; and the post-intervention phase was examined in the second semester of 2015.
Results: Resindicate a series with a rising tendency until the 14th semester and a pronounced descent in the 16th semester. The relative variation rate (RVR) was -20% to +20% with some exceptions. HI was 0.53% in the 16th semester rather than the expected 0.70% observed in the pre-intervention phase; therefore, 0.17% additional deaths were avoided because of the training seminar.
Conclusion: The positive results suggest that this strategy is an important element in decreasing avoidable deaths in hospitals.

Keywords

Health Services
Quality of health care
Cause of Death
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