Missed Opportunities for Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccinations in the Elderly in the US - A Cross-Sectional Analysis

BACKGROUND The US News and World Report reputation score correlates strongly with overall rank in adult and pediatric hospital rankings. Social media affects how information is disseminated to physicians and is used by hospitals as a marketing tool to recruit patients. It is unclear whether the reputation score for adult and children’s hospitals relates to social media presence. OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to analyze the association between a hospital’s social media metrics and the US News 2017-2018 Best Hospital Rankings for adult and children’s hospitals. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the reputation score, total score, and social media metrics (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) of hospitals who received at least one subspecialty ranking in the 2017-2018 US News publicly available annual rankings. Regression analysis was employed to analyze the partial correlation coefficients between social media metrics and a hospital’s total points (ie, rank) and reputation score for both adult and children’s hospitals while controlling for the bed size and time on Twitter. RESULTS We observed significant correlations for children’s hospitals’ reputation score and total points with the number of Twitter followers (total points: r=.465, P<.001; reputation: r=.524, P<.001) and Facebook followers (total points: r=.392, P=.002; reputation: r=.518, P<.001). Significant correlations for the adult hospitals reputation score were found with the number of Twitter followers (r=.848, P<.001), number of tweets (r=.535, P<.001), Klout score (r=.242, P=.02), and Facebook followers (r=.743, P<.001). In addition, significant correlations for adult hospitals total points were found with Twitter followers (r=.548, P<.001), number of tweets (r=.358, P<.001), Klout score (r=.203, P=.05), Facebook followers (r=.500, P<.001), and Instagram followers (r=.692, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS A statistically significant correlation exists between multiple social media metrics and both a hospital’s reputation score and total points (ie, overall rank). This association may indicate that a hospital’s reputation may be influenced by its social media presence or that the reputation or rank of a hospital drives social media followers.

Download Full-text

Understanding the gender gap in antibiotic prescribing: a cross-sectional analysis of English primary care

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020203 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. e020203 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

David R M Smith ◽

F Christiaan K Dolk ◽

Timo Smieszek ◽

Julie V Robotham ◽

Koen B Pouwels

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Tract Infection ◽

Gender Gap ◽

Antibiotic Prescription ◽

The Elderly ◽

Antibiotic Prescribing ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Cross Sectional Analysis ◽

Sectional Analysis ◽

To Receive

ObjectivesTo explore the causes of the gender gap in antibiotic prescribing, and to determine whether women are more likely than men to receive an antibiotic prescription per consultation.DesignCross-sectional analysis of routinely collected electronic medical records from The Health Improvement Network (THIN).SettingEnglish primary care.ParticipantsPatients who consulted general practices registered with THIN between 2013 and 2015.Primary and secondary outcome measuresTotal antibiotic prescribing was measured in children (<19 years), adults (19–64 years) and the elderly (65+ years). For 12 common conditions, the number of adult consultations was measured, and the relative risk (RR) of being prescribed antibiotics when consulting as female or with comorbidity was estimated.ResultsAmong 4.57 million antibiotic prescriptions observed in the data, female patients received 67% more prescriptions than male patients, and 43% more when excluding antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infection (UTI). These gaps were more pronounced in adult women (99% more prescriptions than men; 69% more when excluding UTI) than in children (9%; 0%) or the elderly (67%; 38%). Among adults, women accounted for 64% of consultations (62% among patients with comorbidity), but were not substantially more likely than men to receive an antibiotic prescription when consulting with common conditions such as cough (RR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.02), sore throat (RR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.01) and lower respiratory tract infection (RR 1.00, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.01). Exceptions were skin conditions: women were less likely to be prescribed antibiotics when consulting with acne (RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.69) or impetigo (RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.81 to 0.88).ConclusionsThe gender gap in antibiotic prescribing can largely be explained by consultation behaviour. Although in most cases adult men and women are equally likely to be prescribed an antibiotic when consulting primary care, it is unclear whether or not they are equally indicated for antibiotic therapy.

Download Full-text