The Utility of Preliminary Patient Evaluation in a Febrile Respiratory Infectious Disease Unit outside the Emergency Department

Kang, Jun Sik; Jhun, Byung Woo; Yoon, Hee; Lim, Seong Mi; Ko, Eunsil; Park, Joo Hyun; Hwang, Sung Yeon; Lee, Se Uk; Lee, Tae Rim; Cha, Won Chul; Shin, Tae Gun; Sim, Min Seob; Jo, Ik Joon

The present study had several limitations. First, the screening criteria for contagious diseases were not validated, especially regarding the definition of fever, which was very low ( ≥ 37.5°C). Second, mainly due to the retrospective design, we could not evaluate the degree to which the screening system was more effective than the previous system at preventing nosocomial outbreaks. Third, we analyzed just patients who were hospitalized after screening, so we could not know final diagnosis of the patients such as discharged, referred or followed by the outpatient clinic. Forth, our study population was not representative in terms of baseline clinical characteristics, such as comorbidity, because our study was conducted at a large tertiary-referral center.