Hospitalisation in an emergency department short-stay unit compared to an internal medicine department is associated with fewer complications in older patients – an observational study

Table 3 Timing of in-hospital adverse events for older patients treated in Short-stay Unit/Internal Medicine Department

Total number of patients at risk	450	238	92	38	18
Adverse events Time in days	Day 0–1	Day 2–5	Day 6–10	Day 11–20	Day >20
Medication error, n = 4	1/0	1/2	0/0	0/0	0/0
Drug side effect, n = 4	0/0	1/1	0/2	0/0	0/0
Transfer to intensive care unit, n = 7	0/0	1/2	2/0	1/1	0/0
Transfer to other unit, n = 80	25/19	9/13	5/5	0/4	0/0
Unplanned surgery, n = 8	0/3	0/1	1/0	1/0	0/2
Injury due to invasive procedure, n = 0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0/0
Gastrointestinal bleeding, n = 2	0/0	0/1	0/1	0/0	0/0
Neurologic deficit, n = 2	0/0	0/0	0/2	0/0	0/0
Unexpected death, n = 12	0/0	0/2	1/2	2/2	3/0
Cardiac arrest, n = 1	0/0	0/0	0/1	0/0	0/0
In-hospital falls, n = 8	0/0	0/2	1/2	0/0	0/3
Nosocomial infection, n = 15	2/2	1/2	0/2	0/3	1/2
Decubitus acquired in-hospital, n = 1	0/0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0/0
Thromboembolic event, n = 2	1/0	1/0	0/0	0/0	0/0
Disturbance of the fluid balance, n = 9	0/3	1/3	0/1	0/1	0/0
Other event, n = 7	1/2	1/1	0/0	1/0	0/1

Cross table of the timing and type of in-hospital adverse events for acutely admitted older internal medicine patients (≥ 75 years) treated in a Short-stay Unit or an Internal Medicine Department
Adverse events are listed in the left column followed by the total number of the events. The ‘Time in days’ represents the time from admission to the time of the adverse event, as detected in the patient’s hospital chart. The ‘Total number of patients at risk’ identifies the total number of patients alive and still admitted in the given time interval. Each adverse event is represented by the number of patients in the Short-stay Unit and the Internal Medicine Department, who experienced the adverse event per time interval (number in Short-stay Unit/number in Internal Medicine Department)

ISSN: 1757-7241