Hospital Bed Occupancy due to Drug-Related Problems ¹

The number of patients admitted for drug-related problems and the duration of inpatient treatment required primarily for drug reactions and/or related problems during the period 1 October to 31 December 1979 were studied in one of the three general medical units of a district general hospital. 93% of all patients were admitted as emergencies either through the casualty department or at the their own general practitioner's request. Acute self-poisoning (9.9%) and other drug-related problems (8.8%) were, respectively, the third and fifth most common causes of hospital admission. These two conditions jointly (all drug-related problems) appeared to be the second most common cause and accounted for 18.7% of hospital admissions. The mean duration of hospitalization in patients with drug-related problems, excluding self-poisoning, was approximately 8 days. This was almost identical to hospital bed occupancy due to bronchopulmonary diseases (8.3 days) and complications of diabetes mellitus (8.4 days).