Early Discharge May Put Pneumonia Patients At Risk

FARMINGTON — A study conducted by principal investigator Mark Metersky, M.D, in the Pulmonary Division at the University of Connecticut Health Center, raises a concern that pneumonia patients in Connecticut are being discharged from the hospital too quickly and that this may be harming some patients.

Dr Metersky said that independent of the issue of quality of care is the issue of cost. “Although shorter hospital stays cost less, we may be merely shifting these costs, not saving them, by increasing the number of patients who go to nursing homes.”

The study was performed to determine trends in outcomes of care for older patients hospitalized for pneumonia. The major findings were that while hospital length of stay has been declining, the percentage of patients discharged to a nursing home, being readmitted to the hospital, and dying after discharge has increased.

The article, “Temporal Trends in Outcomes of Older Patients with Pneumonia,” appears in Vol. 160, No. 22, December 11/25, 2000 of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. The entire article can be accessed on the journal’s Web site at http://archinte.ama-assn.org/issues/current/rfull/ioi00213.html.