International Journal of General Medicine (Nov 2023)

Hospital Care Efficiency – Measuring Lipid Profile During Hospitalization

  • Atlibenkin S,
  • Dwolatzky T,
  • Porat O,
  • Karban A,
  • Zalts R

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 5193 – 5197

Abstract

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Smadar Atlibenkin,1 Tzvi Dwolatzky,1,2 Or Porat,1 Amir Karban,1,3,* Ronen Zalts1,3,* 1Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 3109601, Israel; 2Geriatrics Unit, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel; 3Department of Internal Medicine C, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ronen Zalts, Department of Internal Medicine C, Rambam Health Care Campus, Ha’Aliyah Street 8, Box 9602, Haifa, 3109601, Israel, Tel +972 4 7772321, Fax +972 4 7772260, Email [email protected]: Lipid profile measurement in order to identify patients with elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is clearly recommended for all age groups. However, the value of screening patients for elevated LDL-C during hospitalization has not been determined. The aim of this study was to investigate the value of lipid screening tests in patients admitted to internal medicine wards, and as part of our efforts to promote a more intelligent and efficient use of laboratory and imaging tests during hospital care.Methods: We conducted this retrospective, observational study, in which medical charts of patients for whom at least one lipid profile measurement was performed during hospitalization were reviewed. The patients were categorized into 5 groups according to admission diagnosis, and for each patient, we looked if the lipid profile was mentioned or referred to, based on guidelines, in the discharge summary.Results: Lipid profile taken during hospitalization was referred to in the discharge letter in only 38.7% of patients, and even in the case of a need to consider according to guidelines, only a 45.7% consideration rate was found.Conclusion: This study highlights the need for a more efficient and focused approach to the use of lipid profile measurement during hospitalization.Keywords: lipid profile measurement, hospitalization, efficiency, discharge recommendations

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