Clinical outcome of multidisciplinary patients hospitalized with the decision of emergency physicians

Aim: In this study, we aimed to compare clinical outcomes of multidisciplinary patients who were admitted by the decision of emergency physicians (EPs) with that of patients, who were admitted after the consensus decision of consultant physicians in terms of number of consultation, emergency department (ED) and hospital length of stay (LOS), need for intensive care unit (ICU), transfer status after hospitalization and outcome. Material and Methods: This was a retrospective observational study. The multidisciplinary medical patients who were above 18 years of age and need hospitalization were included. The patients were divided into two groups: Group I consisted of those who were hospitalized by the decision of EPs, and Group II consisted of patients who were hospitalized after a consensus reached between consulting physicians. Mann-Whitney U test and Chi-square tests were used for comparisons. Results: Of the 1143 hospitalized patients, 204 (17.85%) were in Group I and 939 (82.15%) were in Group II. Group I patients needed more consultations in the ED, had higher ED-LOS, need more ICU, and were more commonly transferred to other departments after hospitalization. As the number of consultations increases, the ED-LOS increases accordingly in both groups. Although Group I patients seem to be more commonly transferred (p = 0.001), overall hospital-LOS between the two groups was similar (p = 0.143). The transferred patients in Group I had a higher hospital-LOS compared to non-transferred patients (p = 0.001). Discussion: The authorization of EPs to hospitalize multidisciplinary patients to the most related department seems to be feasible because overall hospital-LOS does not change.