1. [Hospital overuse: evaluation and follow-up of endocrine diseases in primary health care].
- Author
-
Pacheco J, Piñeiro F, Bajo A, Alvárez MJ, Checa P, and Enríquez L
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Child, Endocrine System Diseases diagnosis, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Spain, Time Factors, Endocrine System Diseases therapy, Hospitalization, Primary Health Care
- Abstract
On the base of a preestablished protocol, 350 patients from a hospital endocrinological clinic were evaluated to assess the possible role of primary care teams to reduce its possible massification. A comparative evaluation of the causes for consultation was carried out in those patients requiring specialized attention and those which do not need the complexities of hospital organization for their appropriate care and which should be best directed to primary care. It was concluded that there is an overload of hospital clinics, as 34.5% of patients should have been diagnosed and treated in the primary level of care. On the basis of these results, the endocrine diseases requiring primary care would basically be obesity and type II diabetes mellitus, which, in addition, are present in more than 50% of the patients on care.
- Published
- 1989