Abstract

OSPINA D, Juan Manuel et al. CHARACTERISTICS OF HOSPITALIZATION IN THE SERVICE OF INTERNAL MEDICINE OF THE HOSPITAL SAN RAFAEL IN TUNJA. Investig. andina [online]. 2009, vol.11, n.19, pp.50-64. ISSN 0124-8146.

Objective: determine the volume, structure, main causes of admission, hospital length of stay and mortality in patients admitted to the Internal Medicine service of the Hospital San Rafael in Tunja, during the months of August 2006 and July 2007. Methods: descriptive study of a transversal style. An exhaustive revision of the admission registration records was conducted. The sample is made up of the admissions to internal medicine. The variables were evaluated: gender, age, base illness, admission diagnosis, days stayed at the hospital and condition upon release. Results: average length of stay is 6.29 days (SD= 5.38); 35.1% of the patients remain hospitalized for more than 6 days; average age is 61.57 years old (SD= 20.28); 62.8% of the patients are more than 60 years old; 36.2% of the patients are cared for by subspecialties of pneumology and cardiology, followed by the service of neurology (18.3%); 7.1% of the patients admitted died while the service was provided. The main causes of death were neurologic (27.5%) followed by cardiovascular and respiratory disease (24.6%) Conclusions: in the short term, it is recommended to organize and update guiding protocols for a complete service for patients with cardiac failure and respiratory failure. It is useful to become familiar with the occurrence of morbidity when administering the service, because it will allow the development of prevention programs and reduce the number of hospitalization as well as hospital length of stay. A constant update of the total health team in attention to the geronte, is an indication of management that contributes to guarantee the quality of service, an aspect which is evaluated for the accreditation of the institution.

Keywords : internal medicine; hospitalization; morbidity; mortality; management indicators (DECS, Bireme).

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