[An analysis of the health care activity of on-call neurologists and its repercussions in the hospital].
BACKGROUND
The implementation of an on-call neurology service at our hospital prompted us to analyse the health care it offers.


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective descriptive study by reviewing the status report of the on-call services performed between 15 April 2002 and 14 April 2003. The data collected included the age, sex, day of the week, month, requesting service, destination and pathology grouped under different codes to facilitate their later analysis.


RESULTS
A total of 1910 patients were attended with a mean age of 53 and with no differences between sexes. The service that most often requested evaluation was casualty with over 80% of cases. The most frequently involved pathologies were headaches (19.7%), followed by ischemic strokes (16.1%) and epilepsy (13.4%). In 12.3% of cases no neurological pathology was observed. The percentage of direct hospital discharges was 29.16%, while that of admissions to neurology was lower (23.56%). Patients requiring further follow-up visits to Neurology were remitted normally (12.56%), compared to those who were in need of preferential treatment (4.45%).


CONCLUSIONS
The need for a duty neurologist has provided our hospital with a better evaluation of neurological pathologies and a more rational use of complementary tests. Many of the patients who were evaluated were given a direct hospital discharge. This has led to a drop in the number of admissions to Neurology by almost 30% and a reduction in the mean length of time spent in hospital.
Jiménez-Caballero
P E
PE
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Virgen de la Salud, Toledo, Spain. pjimenez1010j@yahoo.com
Marsal-Alonso
C
C
Alvarez-Tejerina
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D009462:Neurology; D010343:Patient Admission; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000078329:Workforce