When seen by internists trained in managing complications, high-risk surgery patients had shorter hospital stays, according to new research.
The study, published in the journal Orthopedics, looked at 86 high-risk surgical patients who were managed partly by hospitalists and partly by surgeons during their hospital stay. Researchers then calculated how long a patient remained in the hospital compared with expected stays at a major teaching hospital.
Before the hospitalists became involved, patients had 14 percent shorter stays than the teaching hospital mean. After the hospitalist program rolled out, patients experienced 31 percent shorter stays. Hospitalist patients stayed an average of 3.8 days, as compared with expected stays of 5.5 days.
To learn more about this study:
- read this UPI piece
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