OBJECTIVE The current pressure on conventional inpatient care units represents a very serious problem for respiratory medicine departments. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of a new instrument --a short-stay respiratory unit-- on the quality of care delivered by the respiratory medicine department of a tertiary care hospital. MATERIAL AND METHODS The short-stay respiratory unit...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the safety, the quality and adequacy of specimens obtained and the cost benefits associated with performing liver biopsy out of hospital, on a short-stay basis, using radiological guidance. DESIGN AND SETTING A prospective study undertaken over a three-year period, from March 1998 to March 2001, in a private radiology practice. PATIENTS AND PROCEDURES: 251 patients (159 ...

OBJECTIVES To conduct a systematic review of how short-stay observation units (SOUs) affect the efficiency of healthcare delivery and the quality of services provided. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE, CINAHL, Best Evidence and The Cochrane Library were searched for the period 1 January 1960 to 31 July 2000. STUDY SELECTION Studies were eligible if published in English and rated at National Health and ...

INTRODUCTION This article analyses the composition of healthcare costs for HIV/AIDS infected patients in a country with limited resources and attempts to identify the factors that influence these costs. The aims are to calculate medical care costs, analysing how they vary depending on patients' income, and to evaluate the factors explaining healthcare consumption. METHODS This is a prospectiv...

In December 1979 97 patients underwent intracapsular cataract extraction under local anaesthetic with planned discharge on the day after operation. Twenty-three of these patients had a prolonged stay in hospital, and five of these required early operative intervention following surgical complications. Sixteen patients did not attain a visual acuity better than 6/18. The visual outcome and posto...

BACKGROUND There are challenges ahead of short-term hospitalization of low-risk patients hospitalized only for monitoring of severe disease who may die soon after admission. The purpose of this study was to suggest strategies forthe management of ICU stay lengths and to ensure optimal use of ICU resources. METHODS The study was conducted retrospectively on 246 patients admitted to 9 general I...

The functional and structural reordering of the accident and emergency services is a priority for hospital management staffs. A true reordering must be based on the following questions: 1.Demand for accident and emergency care is predictable. 2.The way the hospital deals with this can be improved. 3.Hospitals have the responsibility of setting up patient control mechanisms as an alternative to ...