According to a recent study on medical discharge records (SDO) [
[1]
] in Italy, internal medicine today takes in charge mainly elderly patients affected
by complex diseases in phase of exacerbation. The first 4 diagnosis related groups
(DRGs), cardiac failure, pulmonary edema, pneumonia, septicemia, confirm the internal
medicine role in the management of acutely ill complex and poly-pathological patients.
These patients need repeated hospitalization for continuous monitoring and high technological
support. Heavy impact of the internal medicine in hospital activity is confirmed by
DRGs' weight reaching values over 1.5 for many of the first 10 DRGs and by the evidence
that internal medicine admissions represent 27% of urgent admissions and are coming
from emergency in 83% of cases. Acutely ill complex patients' management is one of
the internal medicine prevailing activities, requiring the internist's soft skills.
Moreover, 55% of the admissions in Italian hospitals are classed as emergencies, 42%
of these are admitted in the medical area, and only 24% in the surgical area [
[2]
].Keywords
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 04, 2016
Accepted:
July 22,
2016
Received in revised form:
July 21,
2016
Received:
July 16,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
