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BACKGROUND: Hospitalists' increased role in perioperative medicine allows for examination of their effects on surgical patients. This study examined the effects of a hospitalist service created to medically manage elderly patients with hip fracture. METHODS: During a 2-year historical cohort study of 466 patients 65 years or older admitted for surgical repair of hip fracture, we examined outcomes 1 year prior to and subsequent to the change from the standard to the hospitalist model. RESULTS: The mean (SD) time to surgery (38 47 vs 25 53 hours; P<.001), time from surgery to dismissal (9 8 vs 7 5 days; P = .04), and length of stay (10.6 9 vs 8.4 6 days; P<.001) were shorter in the hospitalist group. Predictors of shorter time to surgery were care by the hospitalist group (P = .002), older age (P = .01), and fall as the mechanism of fracture (P<.001), while American Society of Anesthesia scores of 3 and 4 were associated with increased time to surgery (P<.001). Receiving care by the hospitalist group (P<.001) and diagnosis of delirium (P<.001) were associated with increased chance of earlier dismissal, while admission to the intensive care unit decreased this chance (P<.001). Diagnosis of delirium was more frequent in the hospitalist group (74 32.2% of 230 vs 42 17.8% of 236; P<.001). There were no differences in inpatient deaths or 30-day readmission rates. CONCLUSION: In elderly patients with hip fracture, a hospitalist model decreased time to surgery, time from surgery to dismissal, and length of stay without adversely affecting inpatient deaths or 30-day readmission rates.
Phy et al. (Mon,) studied this question.