title: A study of admissions to paediatric beds.
abstract: The reasons for admission of children to paediatric beds and the appropriateness of those admissions were investigated by a retrospective study of admission notes by two paediatricians. Approximately 3% and 9% of the admissions according to assessor, were for purely social reasons and the remainder for predominantly medical reasons. There were a number of admissions for whom the assessors were unable to justify admission. Assessor 1 considered that 20% and assessor 2 15%, of those studied could have been managed without admission. Agreement over individual cases between assessors was poor but significant. The assessors agreed that admission was appropriate in 74% and inappropriate in 8% of cases. In the remaining 18 cases, the assessors did not agree on the need for admission. It is suggested that there is a need for local specialty specific admission policies to ensure cost-effective use of facilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Health Park, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rajaratnam
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010343:Patient Admission; D010372:Pediatrics; D012189:Retrospective Studies