[Central case management in surgery].
Up to now, in most surgical departments there has been no central patient management coordinating the admission, the diagnostic work-up, and the surgical procedures of patients with the resources available in the hospital. In future, however, it will be essential for surgical departments to establish such a central patient management, not only in view of the importance of patient-oriented medicine but also considering the planned introduction of diagnosis related groups. A central patient management will reduce preoperative and overall length of stay through adequate organisation and communication structures. In addition, a central patient management will make optimal use of the available resources in terms of operation rooms and hospital beds. In this article, we will present our basic concept of a central patient management in a surgical university department.
Chirurgische Klinik, Universität Heidelberg, Germany. helmut_friess@med.uni-heidelberg.de
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H
Friess
J
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Kleeff
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Büchler
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Hartwig
J
J
Schmidt
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Radnic
S
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Auer
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MW
Büchler
D003933:Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010361:Patients; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends