Home hospitalization unit: an alternative to standard inpatient hospitalization from the emergency department.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the characteristics of the patients admitted to a home hospitalization unit (HHU) after a first emergency department (ED) visit.


METHODS
This was a descriptive, retrospective study. The setting of the study was the ED of a 500-bed teaching hospital, which treats 125 000 emergency visits per year. HHU admits patients from the ED when hospitalization is imminent. Participants were all patients attending our ED from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2005 and finally admitted to HHU. Variables were age, sex, diagnostic, mean length of stay, and readmission rate.


RESULTS
A cohort composed of 250 patients admitted to HHU directly from the ED was identified. Mean age was 75 years. One hundred and fifty-eight were males (63%). The most common diagnoses were acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (127 of 250 patients, 50.8%), acute exacerbation of chronic heart failure (32 of 250 patients, 12.8%), pneumonia (24 of 250 patients, 9.6%), urinary tract infection (20 of 250 patients, 8%), and leg deep venous thrombosis (14 of 250 patients, 5.6%). Mean length of stay was 8 days. Readmission rate was 9%.


CONCLUSIONS
A HHU proved to be effective and safe for acutely ill individuals who required hospitalization.
Salazar
Albert
A
Hospital Mutua De Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain. asalazar@csub.scs.es
Estrada
Cristina
C
Porta
Ramon
R
Lolo
Marisol
M
Tomas
Santiago
S
Alvarez
Manuel
M
D000368:Aged; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D010359:Patient Readmission; D011383:Progressive Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain