• Albert Salazar, Cristina Estrada, Ramon Porta, Marisol Lolo, Santiago Tomas, and Manuel Alvarez.
• Hospital Mutua De Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain. asalazar@csub.scs.es
• Eur J Emerg Med. 2009 Jun 1; 16 (3): 121-3.

ObjectiveTo assess the characteristics of the patients admitted to a home hospitalization unit (HHU) after a first emergency department (ED) visit.MethodsThis was a descriptive, retrospective study. The setting of the study was the ED of a 500-bed teaching hospital, which treats 125 000 emergency visits per year. HHU admits patients from the ED when hospitalization is imminent. Participants were all patients attending our ED from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2005 and finally admitted to HHU. Variables were age, sex, diagnostic, mean length of stay, and readmission rate.ResultsA cohort composed of 250 patients admitted to HHU directly from the ED was identified. Mean age was 75 years. One hundred and fifty-eight were males (63%). The most common diagnoses were acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (127 of 250 patients, 50.8%), acute exacerbation of chronic heart failure (32 of 250 patients, 12.8%), pneumonia (24 of 250 patients, 9.6%), urinary tract infection (20 of 250 patients, 8%), and leg deep venous thrombosis (14 of 250 patients, 5.6%). Mean length of stay was 8 days. Readmission rate was 9%.ConclusionA HHU proved to be effective and safe for acutely ill individuals who required hospitalization.

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