Profession
Study: Hospitalists shorten patient stays
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 15, 2007
Patients cared for by hospitalists at a teaching hospital had shorter stays than patients treated by other physicians, according to a study published in the Sept. 24 Archives of Internal Medicine.
The average length of stay for patients treated by hospitalists was 5.01 days, compared with 5.87 days when treated by non-hospitalists.
Researchers studied 9,037 discharges from July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2004, at Weiler Division Hospital of Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y. Hospitalist care was more strongly related to shorter stays for patients requiring close clinical monitoring and those requiring complex discharge planning.
There were no differences between hospitalists and non-hospitalists in readmission or death rate in the hospital or within 30 days.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/10/15/prbf1015.htm.












