[Readmission rate at a regional hospital]

The purpose of this study is that of describing the frequency of re-admissions at the "Punta de Europa" Hospital in Algeciras.

The source of information employed was that of the Minimal Basic Hospital Admission Data Set (MBHADS) for 1995-1996, a total of 24,613 cases of hospitalization being analyzed. Re-admission has been defined as any admission entailing an identical major diagnosis within the 30 days following release from the hospital. A descriptive analysis has been made of the variables of age, sex, the unit/ward to which admitted and major diagnosis involved employing conventional single-variable techniques.

The 30-day re-admissions rate was 5% (IC95% 4.8-5.2), totaling 3.4% (IC95% 3.2-3.6) if only the emergency re-admissions are taken into account. A higher probability of re-admission is related to males, to an older age to certain diagnoses and to the units/wards to which admitted. The units/wards showing the highest percentage of re-admissions were the Psychiatric Ward, Hematology and the Otolaryngology. The Units/Wards showing the lowest percentages of re-admissions were Ophthalmology, Traumatology and Obstetrics. The most frequent re-admissions diagnoses were: impending childbirth, AIDS and complications thereof, neoplasia of the bladder, unstable angina pectoris and paranoid schizophrenia.

Hospital re-admissions are a useful indicator of the quality of health care which must be continued to be researched in our country, particularly after its having been included as an indicator of the public hospital program contracts in Andalusia. It is also deemed necessary to improve the definition of re-admission in said program contracts.