Adaptation and Refinement of Validated Risk Screening Tools in the Spanish Healthcare System
Abstract The aim of this study is to develop a tool to screen elders at risk of hospital readmissions adapted to Spanish target population. The development of this new tool is based on the validated instrument The Community Assessment Risk Screen – CARS –, which is being applied in a sample of 1.000 older patients. The adaptation and refinement of CARS is being carried out through the compilation of new potential variables from primary care clinicians to predict patients at risk of readmissions. The introduction of this new instrument adapted to Spanish target population will provide a potential tool to identify prematurel y patients at risk of hospital readmissions.
In this issue we carry a number of convergent papers on Theory and Methods that will contribute to the debate about “fit for purpose” academic support for practice. From the United States, Dr Roux provides a comprehensive glossary of terms for the increasingly important multilevel analysis, while Wardle and colleagues explore the use of a home affluence scale as an alternative means of assessing socioeconomic status in adolescence. ::: ::: See pages 588, 595 ::: ::: From Manchester come two complementary papers that propose the use of impact numbers in health policy decisions and in measuring the effects of interventions on population health, and McCarthy …