Introduction: A clinical pathway for hospitalization of patients with acute vertigo at the Department of Otolaryngology was developed. Patients for whom this clinical pathway was used were patients with acute vertigo in whom causes of dangerous vertigo, such as a cerebral infarction, were excluded, patients in whom the vertigo symptoms lasted for more than a few hours, and patients who wanted to be hospitalized. The clinical pathway was designed to be used not only by otorhinolaryngologists, but also by doctors on emergency duty on holidays and at night, without consulting an otorhinolaryngologist. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of introduction of the clinical pathway on the hospitalization dynamics and medical staffs.
Methods: In this retrospective study, the subjects were patients who were hospitalized at the Department of Otolaryngology for follow-up of acute vertigo during the year before and after the introduction of the clinical pathway.
Results: After the introduction of the pathway, the number of patients hospitalized increased by 2.3 times, hospitalizations from the emergency room increased significantly, and the rate of patients with vertigo of unknown origin was significantly higher as compared with the case before the introduction of the clinical pathway. Introduction of the clinical pathway reduced the burden by defining clear indications for hospitalization and allowing doctors on emergency duty to hospitalize patients quickly, reducing nursing work in the emergency room and the work of nurses in nursing planning at the time of hospitalization, and reducing the number of on-call nights and holidays for otorhinolaryngologists.
Conclusion: Although the number of patients with vertigo of unknown origin increased, the introduction of this clinical pathway reduced the burden on the medical staff, and was useful for hospital management.
