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Evaluation of an on‐call diabetes service in a large teaching hospital
Author(s) -
Perros P.,
Frier B. M.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
diabetic medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.474
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1464-5491
pISSN - 0742-3071
DOI - 10.1046/j.1464-5491.2000.00240.x
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetes mellitus , service (business) , acute medicine , family medicine , teaching hospital , medical emergency , emergency medicine , nursing , pediatrics , intensive care medicine , economy , economics , endocrinology
Summary Aims To assess prospectively the activity and effectiveness of a diabetes specialist on‐call service. Methods All requests for specialist advice received by the doctor on‐call for diabetes in a large teaching hospital were recorded and analysed over a period of 3 weeks. Results The total number of calls was 135 (mean 45 per week) of which 48.1% were outside normal working hours. Requests for advice from surgical and medical ward staff accounted for 43% of calls, the remainder were from staff in the maternity ward (12.6%), staff in other hospitals in the city (3.7%), general practitioners (13.3%) and patients (27.4%). The time spent by the on‐call doctor for diabetes responding to calls was a mean of 8.6 h per week. The number of acute admissions prevented by this service was estimated to be 11 (3.6 per week). Conclusions Open access to specialist advice provided by a doctor with expertise in diabetes is an effective adjunct to the delivery of diabetes care in the setting of a large teaching hospital.