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A recent look at the cases
of more than 5,000 hospital patients found that about one-fourth were
treated by medical specialists working out of their area of expertise,
and the patients may have paid a price for it.
The study found that patients
who were treated by these doctors tended to have longer hospital stays
and slightly higher mortality rates.
The report noted that some
studies had found that people treated by specialists for conditions like
heart attacks and strokes did better than other patients. It also pointed
to a survey of primary care doctors showing that one-fourth believed they
were being asked to provide a range of care that was too broad.
But this study found that the
patients studied were better
off seeing primary care doctors than specialists out of their field. Given
how often the specialists are called upon to work outside their fields,
the researchers wrote, it is possible that the specialists "have
similar concerns that the scope of conditions that they treat outside
of their subspecialty is greater than it should be."
The study looked at patients
being treated at six hospitals in the Cleveland area who were suffering
from congestive heart failure, bleeding ulcers and pneumonia.
Archives
Internal Medicine 2002 March 11;162(5):527-32
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