title: Inpatient dermatology: pattern of admissions and patients' characteristics in an Australian hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the pattern of dermatology admissions and inpatient characteristics at a tertiary Australian hospital and compare the data with international studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted at a tertiary referral hospital in New South Wales, Australia. Clinical databases were searched retrospectively to include all inpatient admissions under dermatology from 1 January to 31 December 2011. The medical records were reviewed to gather data on age, sex, ethnicity, length of stay, referral and follow-up source, diagnosis and other consultations obtained during the admission.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all, 97 patients were admitted during the 12-month period, of whom 44% were female and 56% male. The most frequent reasons for admission were dermatitis or eczema and ulcers. The average length of stay was 10 days, with a median of 5 days. A total of 80% of patients had a stay duration of 10 days or less, and 6% were in hospital for more than 30 days. The diagnosis that accounted for the longest length of stay was ulcers. A large proportion of patients required consultation from another medical specialty during their admission with 91 specialist consultations taking place for the study group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Inpatient treatment plays a fundamental role in the management of complex and severe dermatological disease and comparison of these results to future studies in other dermatology units around Australia and internationally may be a valuable area of further work.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bale
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003880:Dermatology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004485:Eczema / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000628:therapy; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: admission; dermatology; inpatient; length of stay