It's not just you - patients are getting more complex
If it feels like more work to take care of the same number of patients these days, that’s only because it is. Patients have become more complex with a larger burden of chronic disease over the last 15 years, according to a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine.
This cohort study tracked 3.4 million hospitalizations in one Canadian province (British Columbia), where universal health care and a unified electronic health record provide a clearer look at longitudinal trends than we can see here in the U.S.
Compared to 15 years prior, patients admitted to B.C. provincial hospitals in 2017 were, on average:
Three years older
Twice as likely to have renal disease
70% more likely to have diabetes
Taking more medicines, especially anticoagulation
More than twice as likely to be admitted through the emergency department
Twice as likely to be treated for more than five medical conditions
Rates of admission to the ICU were roughly unchanged over the 15 year comparison. Inpatient mortality was lower in 2017…
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