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[Delay in the performance of diagnostic tests and unnecessary hospital stays in lung cancer]
C Carrasquer Moya1, A Solé Jover, S Peiró
1Servicio de Neumología. Hospital Universitario La Fe. Valencia.
Objectives:
To report among hospitalised patients the proportion of admissions and inappropriate stays, causes for inappropriateness and length in diagnosis delay. To analyse the relationship between patient's characteristics, length of stay and inappropriate use of hospitalization; to evaluate the association between requesting diagnostic tests, stay prolongation and unnecessary use of hospitalization.
Methods:
Prospective cohort of 118 admitted patients because of bronchopulmonary cancer at a university teaching hospital. Length of stay, inappropriate stays and delays in diagnostic tests were analysed.
Results:
The mean hospital stay was 16.3 days, with 74.2% of unnecessary stays and relevant intrahospital diagnostic delays, with over five days for obtaining a chest X-ray, almost seven for a computerized tomography, and eight to have pathology results available. The proportion of inappropriate stays was associated with the number and type of requested tests.
Conclusions:
The results of this study suggest a number of possibilities to improve care quality to patients with suspect of lung cancer, both avoiding unnecessary admissions and shortening diagnostic delays. Also, care costs are reduced and hospital beds are reserved for those patients whose clinical status warrant hospital admission.
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