Abstract

CUNHA, Vitória et al. Home Hospitalization: One Year Balance of the First Portuguese Unit. Medicina Interna [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.4, pp.290-295. ISSN 0872-671X.  https://doi.org/10.24950/rspmi/O112/17/2017.

  Introduction: Home hospitalization is an alternative to conventional hospitalization of acute patients that emerged in the 40’s of the 20th century in the United States of America. The adherence of American and European hospitals to this approach has been growing and has proven to be safe, effective, and responsive to a large number of acute medical conditions avoiding all the problems inherent in conventional hospitalization. Material and Methods:In Portugal, Hospital Garcia de Orta pioneered the creation of this first Home Hospitalization Unit (UHD) in 2015 and by the end of one year has already gained a more consolidated experience with a growing number of admitted patients with varied acute medical pathology. The authors present in this article the casuistry of one year of hospitalization. Results:During this period, 281 patients were hospitalized, 52.0% were female and an average of 67.4 years old. The mean length of hospital stay was 8.7 days and most patients came from the emergency department. The pluripathology, the polypharmacy and the increasing complexity of the admitted patients were highlighted. The most common diagnosis was community-acquired pneumonia. There were little intercurrence during hospitalization and in 22 cases (7.8%) there was a need to return to the hospital. The majority of patients were referred to outpatient hospital after discharge, and the clinical stability prevailed at 30 days post-discharge. Conclusion:This model of hospital admission has demonstrated the potential to embrace more and more patients, and the experience of the first Portuguese unit will certainly contribute to the expansion to other hospitals in the country.

Keywords : Emergency Service, Hospital; Home Care Services, Hospital-Based; Patient Admission; Portugal.

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