Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/606
Title: | Clinical and financial consequences of setting up an asthma clinic at St. Luke’s Hospital |
Authors: | Ebejer, Martin J. Galea Baron, A. Ellul-Micallef, Roger Fenech, Frederick F. |
Keywords: | Asthma Asthma -- Treatment -- Malta Health services -- Malta |
Issue Date: | 1995 |
Publisher: | Maltese Medical Journal |
Citation: | Maltese Medical Journal. 1995, Vol. 7(1), p. 34-41 |
Abstract: | The effects of setting up an asthma clinic were assessed in an audit study. A comparison was made between the quality and quantity of medication used by patients before and after attending the asthma clinic. The number and severity of exacerbations during a six month period before and a six month period after attending were also assessed. The cost of treatment before and after was also calculated. In 14% of patients, occupational factors, drugs or underlying lung disease were significant contributors to asthma. The number of acute episodes of severe asthma were reduced from 98 to 47, with hospital admissions falling from 26 to 1. Pulmonary function (%FEV1) improved in the group as a whole with the number of patients having their best FEV above 80% improving from 44 to 71. In spite of the expense of high cost drugs and the running costs of the clinic there were substantial savings largely from the reduced number of hospital admissions. The calculated annual cost fell from Lm 22,769 to Lm 10,654. |
URI: | https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/606 |
Appears in Collections: | MMJ, Volume 7, Issue 1 MMJ, Volume 7, Issue 1 Scholarly Works - FacM&SCPT |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
mmj070134.pdf | 6.8 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
Items in OAR@UM are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.