Table 2.
Characteristics of the 1441 hospitalizations studied during the pre‐intervention period and 431 in the intervention period
| Pre‐intervention period | Intervention period | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | P‐value | |||
| Number of hospitalizations (n) | 1441 | 431 | |||
| Patient characteristics | |||||
| Mean age (years old ± SD) | 76.4 ± 12.6 | 78.2 ± 12.4 | 0.016a | ||
| Female | 661 | 45.9 | 203 | 47.1 | 0.653 |
| Married | 669 | 46.4 | 186 | 43.2 | 0.232 |
| General insuranceb | 1299 | 90.1 | 397 | 92.1 | 0.220 |
| Lives in the same sanitary region as hospital | 1172 | 81.3 | 344 | 79.8 | 0.481 |
| Incident hospitalization | |||||
| Admission | |||||
| Unplanned admission | 1373 | 95.3 | 407 | 94.4 | 0.474 |
| Need of urgent care (E.S.T score ≤ 2) | 907 | 66.0c | 264 | 65.0c | 0.726 |
| Admission on weekend | 270 | 18.7 | 81 | 18.8 | 0.979 |
| Admission by night | 435 | 30.2 | 147 | 34.1 | 0.123 |
| First complaint at admission | |||||
| Chest pain | 154 | 10.7 | 48 | 11.1 | 0.792 |
| Dyspnoea | 748 | 51.9 | 210 | 48.7 | 0.246 |
| Arrhythmia | 94 | 6.5 | 19 | 4.4 | 0.106 |
| Shock | 33 | 2.3 | 6 | 1.4 | 0.252 |
| Other | 346 | 24.0 | 123 | 28.5 | 0.057 |
| Unavailable | 66 | 4.6 | 25 | 5.8 | 0.301 |
| Hospitalization | |||||
| Average length of stay (days ± SD) | 15.4 ± 12.4 | 15.5 ± 12.4 | 0.487 | ||
| >8 medications at discharge | 1044 | 75.4 | 324 | 77.9 | 0.305 |
| ≥4 hospitalizations within the last year | 357 | 24.8 | 121 | 28.1 | 0.168 |
| Principal diagnosis | |||||
| Congestive heart failure | 624 | 43.3 | 186 | 43.2 | 0.957 |
| Acute myocardial infarct | 95 | 6.6 | 28 | 6.5 | 0.944 |
| Pneumonia | 42 | 2.9 | 9 | 2.1 | 0.355 |
| Respiratory failure | 90 | 6.2 | 21 | 4.9 | 0.290 |
| Atrial fibrillation or flutter | 64 | 4.4 | 18 | 4.2 | 0.814 |
| COPD | 40 | 2.8 | 11 | 2.6 | 0.802 |
| Sepsis | 24 | 1.7 | 7 | 1.6 | 0.953 |
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
a
P‐value considered as significant.
b
Non‐general insurances include private and semi‐private insurance, more expensive, allowing daily senior attending physician visit and a single‐bed room.
c
Data were available for 1375 (pre‐intervention period) and 406 (intervention period) hospitalizations. Echelle Suisse de Triage (E.S.T) Swiss triage scale from 1 to 4. Level 2 patients must be treated in <20 min.