OBJECTIVES: Upper gastrointestinal (UGI) bleeding carries high morbidity and mortality. The use of a bleeding care pathway (BCP) may improve outcomes, but the results are inconsistent in various studies. METHODS: A BCP for patients with UGI bleed with admission in a bleeding care unit (BCU) has been in use at our hospital since 2005. Prior to this, a high dependency unit was used for management of all emergencies including UGI bleeding. We compared the length of stay in the bleeding care/high dependency unit, total hospital stay, time to UGI endoscopy after admission, and survival between pre-2005 and post-2005 patients. RESULTS: Five hundred and fifty-one patients were admitted with acute UGI bleed in the last 5 years; 121 belonged to pre-BCP (2004) period and 430 after implementation of the pathway (2005-2008). The mean (SD) time to UGI endoscopy improved from 21.3 (7.4) hours in the pre-BCU era to 9.4 (9.9) hours in BCU, p < 0.001. BCU stay was shorter from 2.41 (1.4) days pre-BCP to 1.93 (1.32) days post-BCP, (p < 0.001). The total hospital stay in pre-BCU (4.0 [2.08] days) as compared to BCU (4.13 [2.62] days; p = 0.58) was similar; there was no impact of BCU on survival. CONCLUSION: A BCU implementation showed improvement in time to UGI endoscopy, and did not reduce BCU stay or impact survival.
OBJECTIVES: Upper gastrointestinal (UGI) bleeding carries high morbidity and mortality. The use of a bleeding care pathway (BCP) may improve outcomes, but the results are inconsistent in various studies. METHODS: A BCP for patients with UGI bleed with admission in a bleeding care unit (BCU) has been in use at our hospital since 2005. Prior to this, a high dependency unit was used for management of all emergencies including UGI bleeding. We compared the length of stay in the bleeding care/high dependency unit, total hospital stay, time to UGI endoscopy after admission, and survival between pre-2005 and post-2005 patients. RESULTS: Five hundred and fifty-one patients were admitted with acute UGI bleed in the last 5 years; 121 belonged to pre-BCP (2004) period and 430 after implementation of the pathway (2005-2008). The mean (SD) time to UGI endoscopy improved from 21.3 (7.4) hours in the pre-BCU era to 9.4 (9.9) hours in BCU, p < 0.001. BCU stay was shorter from 2.41 (1.4) days pre-BCP to 1.93 (1.32) days post-BCP, (p < 0.001). The total hospital stay in pre-BCU (4.0 [2.08] days) as compared to BCU (4.13 [2.62] days; p = 0.58) was similar; there was no impact of BCU on survival. CONCLUSION: A BCU implementation showed improvement in time to UGI endoscopy, and did not reduce BCU stay or impact survival.
Authors: J Y Lau; J J Sung; K K Lee; M Y Yung; S K Wong; J C Wu; F K Chan; E K Ng; J H You; C W Lee; A C Chan; S C Chung Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2000-08-03 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: Patrick R Pfau; Gregory S Cooper; Mark D Carlson; Amitabh Chak; Michael V Sivak; Judith A Gonet; Karen K Boyd; Richard C K Wong Journal: Am J Gastroenterol Date: 2004-03 Impact factor: 10.864