Giorgio Ciminata

Palliative Care Nursing Home care Social care WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THIS TOPIC Previous studies of mortality from long-term care settings have focused on specific diseases or medications, have compared mortality between residents and matched individuals who live elsewhere in the community or have considered predictors of mortality. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS Mortality is common in Scotland’s care homes and largely occurs within the care home setting.

Discussion We present an economic model to illustrate the potential added value of "sentinel” screening policies for other endemic diseases alongside a malaria testing for febrile patients presenting at healthcare facilities. Using a case study on a prototype multiplex device able to detect two diseases at once (in this case, malaria and schistosomiasis), we found that the use of sentinel screening can be preferrable to the current treatment strategies in several settings.