[Short-Stay Medical Unit, an alternative to conventional hospitalization]

The Short-Stay Medical Unit (SSMU) is an alternative to conventional hospitalization. This study has aimed to analyze the evolution of admissions and duration of stay in a SSMU, to outline the characteristics of the patients while studying their relationship to length of time spent in the unit and their destination on discharge as well as to assess how appropriately their cases were resolved.

A descriptive study was carried out (2000-2005), analyzing their age, sex, destination on discharge and main diagnosis as well as the evolution of admissions and length of stay over this period. In order to determine how appropriately each case was resolved, length of stay and destination on discharge were considered. The data were analyzed using the SPSS program.

During the study period there was an increase in the number of admissions and in length of stay. The average age of the 7,618 patients was 70.6 +/- 16.9 years and the average stay 2.7 +/- 1.4 days. One of the most frequent diagnoses was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (15.9%). On discharge, 85.9% of patients were sent home. A total of 76.4% of cases were resolved satisfactorily, with significant statistical differences related to age, diagnosis and number of diagnoses.

A progressive increase in admissions and length of stay was observed. Ninety percent of the cases of the younger patients were resolved satisfactorily, this decreasing to 72% for older patients. The number of diagnoses, specific diagnoses and age caused some difficulty in reaching an appropriate resolution.