Can the simple clinical score usefully predict the mortality risk and length of stay for a recently admitted patient?

Conclusion There was no useful prospective role for the SCS in predicting LOS and mortality of in-patients newly admitted to a General Medicine service. What is known about the topic? After their presentation to the emergency department, care efficiency is improved by the 'streaming' of patients according to their risk of imminent deterioration and their likelihood of being a long-stay patient. Although streaming is currently effected by bedside assessment of the patient, an accepted aggregate assessment score may assist disposition decisions. What does this paper add? Bedside assessment of each patient still offers the most accurate method for identifying the long-stay patient. The SCS, good at predicting 30-day mortality of all new admissions, is not useful for predicting the death of those admissions who are for full resuscitation. What are the implications for practitioners? When deciding admitted patients' disposition on leaving the emergency department, a simple aggregate score based on patient physiology, comorbidity and functionality has little to offer practitioners beyond knowledge of each patient's age. PMID: 25817909 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research