1 Out of 4 Acutely Admitted Medical Patients are Discharged Without a Diagnosis

A team of Danish researchers observed that most of the acutely ill, admitted patients were discharged from the hospital without getting a diagnosis done.

In a latest study led by researchers from the Aarhus University and Aarhus University hospital noticed that 1 out of every 4 acutely admitted medical patients leave the hospital without getting a diagnosis. It is estimated that each year nearly 265,000 Danes are acutely admitted to medical departments with symptoms of serious illness such as chest pain, breathing difficulties, fainting and much more. It is these severe symptoms that lead to acute hospitalization.

The finding is based on the analysis of 264,265 acute medical Danish patients aged 64 years who were hospitalized in 2010. They were identified through the Danish National Patient Registry.

"Naturally, there is no need for a diagnosis if the examinations at the hospital disprove that there is a serious illness. So some patients will always be discharged without a specific diagnosis. But we are surprised that as many as one in four patients do not receive a specific diagnosis," said Clinical Associate Professor and Medical Doctor Christian Fynbo Christiansen.

Those patients who were discharged without any diagnosis on an average stayed in the hospital for one day. They also noticed that 50 percent of those patients suffered from chronic disease. As the rate of elderly patients rise, those with more than one chronic conditions also rise. The researchers strongly believe that the result of the study can be used in future to plan the healthcare sector.

"With the knowledge we have now, we should be especially careful planning the healthcare system, including the emergency departments at the upcoming so-called super hospitals, so they can handle a large number of patients who cannot be immediately diagnosed. It is clearly extremely important for both the individual patient and the healthcare system as a whole that patients with serious and critical diseases are diagnosed as well as possible when they are first admitted," said Christian Fynbo Christiansen.

The finding was documented in the journal European journal of Internal Medicine.