title: A cooperative care model: cardiologists and hospitalists reduce length of stay in a chest pain observation unit.
abstract: Chest pain observation units are increasingly used to evaluate patients at low risk for cardiovascular events and are commonly staffed by cardiologists. The role of hospitalists in this setting has not been described. We assessed emergency department (ED) length of stay before and after adding hospitalists to the care team among 493 patients. Prior to intervention, median ED length of stay was 19.3 hours, which decreased to 11.0 hours with the addition of hospitalists (43% decrease, P <0.0001). No significant difference in 30-day cardiac event rate was observed (5% versus 6%, P = 0.68).
authors.affiliation: Denver Health Medical Center and University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80204, USA. Mkrantz@dhha.org
authors.forename: Mori J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Krantz
authors.forename: Oren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zwang
authors.forename: Shane B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Rowan
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cleary
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Mark B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: Stephen V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Cantrill
authors.forename: Edward P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Havranek
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Albert