A review of the readmissions of patients with tetraplegia to the Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, Southport, United Kingdom, between January 1994 andDecember 1995

Patients with chronic tetraplegia are prone to develop unique clinical prob lems which require readmission to specialised centres where the health prof essionals are trained specifically to diagnose, and treat the diseases affl icting this group of patients. An appraisal of the readmission pattern of t etraplegic patients will provide the necessary data for planning allocation of beds for treatment of chronic tetraplegic patients. Hospital records of patients with tetraplegia readmitted to the Regional Spinal Injuries Centr e, Southport, UK between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1995 were analyzed to find out the number of tetraplegic patients who required readmission, re asons for readmission, duration of hospital stay, and mortality among patie nts readmitted. During the 2-year period, 155 tetraplegic patients were readmitted and 44 o f them (28.4%) required more than one readmission (total readmission episod es: 221); these patients occupied 4.5 beds which is equivalent to 11.5% of the total bed capacity of the spinal unit. Among the reasons for the readmi ssion episodes (43.43%) involving 70 patients; the median hospital stay was 3 days, and 18 patients (26%) required more than one readmission during th is period. One hospital bed was occupied by the tetraplegic patients requir ing treatment/evaluation of urinary tract disorders. Assessment and treatme nt of cardio-respiratory diseases was the second most common reason for rea dmission with 51 readmission episodes pertaining to 27 patients having a me dian hospital stay of 6 days; 13 patients (48%) were readmitted more than o nce within this 2-year period. Treatment of cardio-respiratory diseases in chronic tetraplegic patients required 1.2 hospital beds yearly. Only five t etraplegic patients were readmitted for treatment of pressure sore(s); howe ver they had a prolonged hospital stay (median duration: 101 days). Social reasons accounted for 13 readmission episodes concerning nine patients who stayed in the hospital for varying periods (median: 6.5 days; mean: 35 days ). Four tetraplegic patients readmitted with acute chest infection expired. An 81 year-old tetraplegic died of myocardial infarction. Urinary sepsis, ren al insufficiency, respiratory failure and intra-cerebral haemorrhage accoun ted for the demise of a 41 year-old tetraplegic patient following surgical removal of a large, impacted stone at the pelviureteric junction. A tetrapl egic patient who was admitted with haematuria subsequently underwent cystec tomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder; he developed secon daries and expired 5 months later. As more patients with high cervical spinal cord injury survive the initial period of trauma, and as the life expectancy of tetraplegic patients increa ses, it is likely that greater numbers of tetraplegic patients will be requ iring readmission to spinal injuries centre. Although it may be possible to prevent some of the complications of spinal cord injury and hence the need for a readmission, progress in medicine and rehabilitation technology will create additional demands for readmissions of chronic tetraplegic patients in order to implement the newer therapeutic strategies. Thus a change in t he pattern of readmission of chronic tetraplegic patients is likely to be t he future trend and this should be taken into account while making plans fo r providing the optimum care to chronic tetraplegic patients.