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International Journal for Quality in Health Care 7:227-232 (1995)
© 1995 International Society for Quality in Health Care
Medical Appropriateness of Hospital Utilization: an Overview of the Swiss Experience

* University of Lausanne, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine Lausanne, Switzerland
State of Vaud, Public Health Department Lausanne, Switzerland
We present here the principal results of four concurrent hospital utilization reviews conducted in Switzerland in 1990 and 1991, based on an adapted Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol. The studies were performed on all the hospital days from a sample of patients admitted over a 6 month period. The level of inappropriate use ranged between 8 and 15% in terms of days and was consistently higher in medicine than in surgery. In comparison with other published studies, the low proportion of observed inappropriate days is probably due, at least partly, to differences in study design.
Keywords: Hospitalization, utilization review, appropriateness
B. Santos-Eggimann, MD, MPH, DrPH, Institut Universitaire de Médecine Sociale et Préventive, 17 rue du Bugnon, CH-1005 Lausanne, Switzerland. Tel: (+41) 21 313 20 20; Fax (+41) 21 313 20 35.
Received for publication April 6, 1995. Accepted for publication May 31, 1995.