Multimorbidity in a large district hospital: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

CONCLUSIONS: Chronic conditions, particularly HIV, TB and non-communicable diseases, represented much of the disease profile in the internal medicine department. Of the comorbidities investigated, the greatest contributor to length of stay was HIV/TB co-infection. Factors such as HIV, TB and substance use that increase length of stay cannot be impacted upon by the district hospital staff in isolation. To improve the health of communities, we require partnerships between doctors, community health providers and patients with their families. Multimorbidity was widespread, suggesting the need to include an understanding of multimorbidity, including the patient perspective, in medical education and health system reform. PMID: 29262966 [PubMed - in process]
Source: South African Medical Journal - Category: African Health Tags: S Afr Med J Source Type: research