A study of change in clinical service for general surgical patients.
The department of surgery at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York City conducted a study examining resource consumption and quality of care for patients referred to surgery from other hospital services, or "referred patients." Referred patients were compared with "nonreferred" surgery patients using several indicators of resource consumption. A quality assessment was also performed on a random sample from both groups using peer review organization guidelines. The study found that referred patients consumed more resources and may have received poorer quality care than nonreferred patients. Previous studies suggest that some resource utilization by referred patients may be avoidable. Thus, referral to the department of surgery may serve as an indicator for identifying patients in need of ongoing quality and/or utilization monitoring.
Muñoz
E
E
Department of Surgery, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, New York.
Ratner
L
L
Cohen
J
J
Johnson
H
H
Goldstein
J
J
Wise
L
L
D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006748:Hospital Departments / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D009519:New York City; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards