[Appropriateness of emergency hospital admissions].

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this work is to know the proportion of inadequate urgent admissions in a general hospital.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A retrospective and descriptive study of patients admitted during 1,999 was performed. The Appropriatness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) was used in order to evaluate the appropriatness of the admissions.

RESULTS

Eighteen admissions (4.5%) were inadecuated. There was a higher proportion of inappropriate admission (IA) when the physician responsible of the admission was a medical specialist (internal medicine, hematology or nephrology): odds ratio 5.3 in opposite to emergency physicians (p < 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

There was a low proportion of inadequate admissions (4.5%) and the risk of inappropriatness of the admission was major when it was ordered by a medical specialist.