The impact of consultant-delivered multidisciplinary inpatient medical care on patient outcomes.

Consultant-delivered care has been shown to improve outcomes for acute medical patients. However, the ideal composition of a medical team to support consultant-delivered care is not clear and little is known about the effect of continuing consultant-delivered care until the patient is discharged. Between December 2011 and April 2012, 260 general medical patients requiring inpatient care were managed by a consultant-delivered multidisciplinary team (CD-MDT) and 150 patients by a standard consultant-led team of trainee doctors. The length of hospital stay was significantly lower for patients managed by a CD-MDT than for those managed by a standard team (4-5 days vs 7 days, p<0.001). No difference between the groups was seen for readmission rates, patient safety or mortality. In conclusion, a CD-MDT is a safe and effective model of inpatient medical care and is associated with a shorter length of hospital stay.