Inpatient management: variations in some aspects of practice in Scotland.

Data for four aspects of inpatient management-namely, variations in length of stay, the time patients spend in hospital before or after operation, and the proportion of patients operated on in surgical units-show considerable variations in certain aspects of practice by Scottish consultants. It is suggested that there may be simple explanations for some of the observed variations. The differences could be due to great variation in the constraints encountered by the consultants in their work, or to wide differences of opinion about the optimum treatment for specific diagnoses.