Patient flow and system reform

At first glance, if you do not know otherwise, you may think that DGP is an acronym connected to the financial crisis affecting the Eurozone or an atmospheric pollutant affecting the climate. If you read the paper by Hardern, you will learn what it stands for. He also introduces us to another unfamiliar term ‘goalodicy’. Although his paper has a serious message you may end up chuckling or weeping to yourself, or both (see page 219).

Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge reconfigured their emergency care system when the medical admissions unit and emergency department (ED) were combined into one emergency assessment unit. What does a retrospective ‘before and after’ study tell us? The simple conclusion is that it reduced hospital admissions and inhospital mortality and gave a better quality of care to the patients. They also found that formal complaints, …