Curbside consultation in infectious diseases: a prospective study.

This study prospectively evaluates curbside (unofficial, informal) consultation (CSC) directed to the hospital-based Infectious Disease Consultation Service (IDCS) in a 1,000-bed university-affiliated, general teaching hospital. Official consultation (OC) was neither solicited nor discouraged. During a one-year period, the IDCS was consulted officially about 532 patients (503 inpatients, 29 outpatients) and unofficially about 269 patients. Only 31 (11.5%) of the 269 CSCs subsequently resulted in OCs. Problems discussed during a CSC ranged from simple to complicated and life threatening, with pneumonia, hepatitis, and syphilis being the illnesses most frequently discussed. Forty-two percent of the CSCs were sought by the internal medicine housestaff, whereas approximately 29% were sought by internal medicine staff physicians. It may be concluded that a CSC in infectious diseases is common, that it sometimes involves complicated and/or life-threatening illnesses but usually does not result in a subsequent OC, and that it requires a considerable expenditure of time by the Infectious Disease Service. A CSC may also involve the exchange of inaccurate or insufficient information between inquiring physicians and the Infectious Disease Service.