Oncology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Oncology, including details on cancer, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy.

Pattern and outcome of admission to a medical oncology inpatient service.

Tas F, Argon A, Disci R, Topuz E

Istanbul University, Institute of Oncology, Istanbul, Turkey. faruktas2002@yahoo.com

BACKGROUND: Inpatient medical oncology has not been properly described in many countries including Turkey. METHODS: We aimed in this article to describe the admissions to a medical oncology inpatient service within a 2-year period with respect to patient characteristics, their malignancies, and outcome of admission. RESULTS: A total of 5305 cancer patients were seen at our hospital, and 779 (14.7%) were hospitalized. The most common reason for admission was chemotherapy administration (81.2%). The median number of hospitalizations was 1 (range, 1-21). The length of stay was between 1 to 189 days with a median of 4 days. Most of the hospitalizations resulted in discharge; few patients died (77 patients; 9.9% of the hospitalized patients and 4.4% of the hospitalizations). CONCLUSIONS: Inpatient care constitutes an important aspect of medical oncology. Given the high rate of hospitalization for chemotherapy administration and the rising cost of inpatient care, it is evident that a shift from inpatient care to outpatient care (day hospital or ambulatory) is urgently needed.

Published 3 July 2007 in J Cancer Educ, 22(2): 80-5.
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