Background With more emergency visits, there is increasing pressure to provide emergency medical services globally and locally. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics and the disease spectrum of patients presenting in the last three years to the Department of Emergency Medicine of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Tianjin, China, to improve the services of the emergency medicine department. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on all patients in the Department of Emergency Medicine of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from Jan 1, 2017, 00:00:00 to Dec 31, 2020, 23:59:59, including variables like medical record number, gender, age, date of admission, principal diagnosis. The data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software; statistical charts were prepared by GraphPad Prism9.0 and SPSS 20.0; statistical tables were made by Microsoft Excel. Results A total of 1,314,916 patients presented to the Department of Emergency Medicine of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from Jan 1, 2017, 00:00:00 to Dec 31, 2020, 23:59:59. In terms of gender distribution, the male–female ratio was 0.78∶1. As for age distribution, patients aged 60–69 were the most (23.47%), and patients younger than 20 years were the least (2.80%). Concerning monthly data, the number of visits peaked during January and December. The distribution of daily visits showed the feature of three highs and a low. The top three prevalence diseases in the emergency disease spectrum were respiratory, cardiovascular, and digestive diseases. The respiratory system was the most common in patients with infectious diseases (200,912, accounting for 86.97%). Among the patients suffering from infectious diseases, the number of patients with respiratory infections peaked in 2019 (73,530) and was the lowest in 2020 (20,078). Conclusions From 2017 to 2019, the demand for emergency services in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital continued to increase, but it was greatly affected by COVID-19 in 2020. This emergency department is mainly for patients with respiratory system, circulatory system and digestive system diseases, and its treatment time is relatively centralized. The prevention of diseases for people of all ages, especially female patients and the elderly, should be strengthened, and emergency medical resources should be allocated reasonably according to the peak months and crowed periods of patients.
Background Internet hospitals are developing rapidly in China, and their convenient and efficient medical services are being increasingly recognized by patients. Many hospitals have set up their own internet hospitals to provide web-based medical services. Tianjin Medical University General Hospital has established a multidisciplinary and comprehensive internet hospital to provide diversified medical services according to the needs of patients. A way to further improve web-based medical services is by examining how shared decision-making (SDM) can be carried out in internet hospital diagnosis and treatment services, thereby improving patients’ medical experience. Objective The aim of this study was to analyze the feasibility of implementing doctor-patient SDM in internet hospital diagnosis and treatment services based on patients’ needs in China. Methods In this study, the medical data of 10 representative departments in the internet hospital of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from January 1 to January 31, 2022, were extracted as a whole; 25,266 cases were selected. After excluding 2056 cases with incomplete information, 23,210 cases were finally included in this study. A chi-square test was performed to analyze the characteristics and medical service needs of internet hospital patients in order to identify the strengths of SDM in internet hospitals. Results The internet hospital patients from 10 clinical departments were significantly different in terms of gender (χ29=3425.6; P<.001), age (χ236=27,375.8; P<.001), mode of payment (χ29=3501.1; P<.001), geographic distribution (χ29=347.2; P<.001), and duration of illness (χ236=2863.3; P<.001). Patient medical needs included drug prescriptions, examination prescriptions, medical record explanations, drug use instructions, prehospitalization preparations, further consultations with doctors (unspecified purpose), treatment plan consultations, initial diagnoses based on symptoms, and follow-up consultations after discharge. The medical needs of the patients in different clinical departments were significantly different (χ272=8465.5; P<.001). Conclusions Our study provides a practical and theoretical basis for the feasibility of doctor-patient SDM in internet hospitals and offers some implementation strategies. We focus on the application of SDM in web-based diagnosis and treatment in internet hospitals rather than on a disease or a disease management software. The medical service needs of different patient groups can be effectively obtained from an internet hospital, which provides the practical conditions for the promotion of doctor-patient SDM. Our findings show that the internet hospital platform expands the scope of SDM and is a new way for the large-scale application of doctor-patient SDM.
Background: With more emergency visits, there is increasing pressure to provide emergency medical services globally and locally. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics and the disease spectrum of patients presenting in the last three years to the Department of Emergency Medicine of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Tianjin, China, to improve the services of the emergency medicine department.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on all patients in the Department of Emergency Medicine of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from Jan 1, 2017, 00:00:00 to Dec 31, 2020, 23:59:59, including variables like medical record number, gender, age, date of admission, principal diagnosis. The data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software; statistical charts were prepared by GraphPad Prism9.0 and SPSS 20.0; statistical tables were made by Microsoft Excel.Results: A total of 1,314,916 patients presented to the Department of Emergency Medicine of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from Jan 1, 2017, 00:00:00 to Dec 31, 2020, 23:59:59. In terms of gender distribution, the male-female ratio was 0.78∶1. As for age distribution, patients aged 60-69 were the most (23.47%), and patients younger than 20 years were the least (2.80%). Concerning monthly data, the number of visits peaked during January and December. The distribution of daily visits showed the feature of three highs and a low. The top three prevalence diseases in the emergency disease spectrum were respiratory, cardiovascular, and digestive diseases. The respiratory system was the most common in patients with infectious diseases (200912, accounting for 86.97%). Among the patients suffering from infectious diseases, the number of patients with respiratory infections peaked in 2019 (73,530) and was the lowest in 2020 (20,078).Conclusions: From 2017 to 2019, the demand for emergency services in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital continued to increase, but it was greatly affected by COVID-19 in 2020. This emergency department is mainly for patients with respiratory system, circulatory system and digestive system diseases, and its treatment time is relatively centralized. The prevention of diseases for people of all ages, especially female patients and the elderly, should be strengthened, and emergency medical resources should be allocated reasonably according to the peak months and crowed periods of patients.
BACKGROUND Internet hospitals are developing rapidly in China, and their convenient and efficient medical services are recognized by more and more patients. How to carry out SDM between doctors and patients in internet hospital diagnosis and treatment services and improve patients' medical experience is a way to further improve online medical service. OBJECTIVE To study the strategy of implementing doctor-patient SDM in internet hospital diagnosis and treatment services based on patients’ needs. METHODS The chi-square test is used to analyze the patient characteristics and medical service needs of internet hospital patients, so as to determine the needs for SDM between doctors and patients of internet hospitals. RESULTS Internet hospital patients from 10 clinical departments are significantly different in gender (χ2value 3424.34, P value 0), age (χ2 value 27.75.81, P value 0), mode of payment (χ2 value 3501.1, P value 0), geographical distribution (χ2 value 347.15, P value 0), and duration of illness (χ2 value 2863.3, P value 0). Patient medical needs include prescribing drugs, prescribing examinations, explanation of medical records, instruction in drug use, preparations before hospitalization, further consultation with doctors (unspecified purpose), treatment plan consultation, initial diagnosis based on symptoms, and follow-up and subsequent consultation after discharge. The medical needs of patients in different clinical departments show significant difference (χ2 value 8465.52, P value 0). CONCLUSIONS Internet hospitals provide a good information platform, and most of the patients admitted by internet hospitals are patients with mild and chronic diseases, which is conducive to SDM between doctors and patients. In the process of implementing doctor-patient SDM, differentiated strategies should be adopted, focusing on patients whose diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up diagnosis are unclear, guiding patients to engage in doctor-patient SDM, and emphasizing the development of doctor-patient SDM assistance tools at the clinical department level and enhancing the policy support and promotion of SDM between doctors and patients at the hospital level.
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