INTERMED - A clinical instrument for biopsychosocial assessment

Using the INTERMED, a system for classifying case complexity, the authors e valuated patients admitted to a general internal medicine ward on length of stay (LOS), number of medicines prescribed during the hospital stay, and w hether they, had received specialist medical consults. Using the patients' INTERMED scores, the authors divided the patients into three clusters of pa tients: standard (n = 41), chronic (n = 26), and complex (n = 18). A compar ison of the three clusters indicated that patients who had scored within th e complex cluster were at risk of requiring complex care and an increased L OS. The findings suggest that the INTERMED detects complex patients at admi ssion and may, therefore, be used for early integral case management.