title: [Home hospitalization directly from emergency department: an efficient alternative to standard inpatient hospitalization].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare technical quality, patient health outcomes, and satisfaction degree of patients admitted to hospital at home (HAH) from the emergency department (ED) with those with standard hospitalization (SH).
  
  
  METHODS
  Comparative prospective study. Medical records of patients admitted to the HAH were reviewed and then they were also called and surveyed. The following variables were recorded: demographic and clinical aspects, patient health status at the time of phone survey, technical and perceived quality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients included: 111 (65 from the ED and 46 from the SH). Phone survey was performed to 76 patients and 57 carers. Length of stay was significantly shorter in patients from the ED compared with those from SH (1.02 ± 0.44 vs 2.23 ± 0.94 days, P<.0005). No other differences were observed in patients' demographics, clinical aspects and health status, in technical quality, and in perceived quality between both groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When HAH is an option, these results seem to indicate that patient hospital stay can be shortened if HAH admittance is obvious, after a period of patient treatment and stabilization, from the ED instead from HAH.
authors.affiliation: Sección de Urgencias Medicina, Área de Urgencias, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, España. sjimenez@clinic.ub.es
authors.forename: Sònia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.forename: Sira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aguiló
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antolín
authors.forename: Blanca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Coll-Vinent
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Miró
authors.forename: Miquel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013030:Spain