Health Blog : Lab Values Predict Mortality for Hospitalized Patients: "Measuring just how well hospitals care for patients has proved tricky. Mortality measures, adjusted for risk, are one approach.
So what’s the best way to evaluate how likely hospitalized patients are to die? Lab tests, according to a paper in the current issue of the journal Medical Health.
Researchers–from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and Cardinal Health, a distributor of drugs and medical supplies–compared lab data from 32 common tests against more detailed patient information. The standard benchmarks included patient vital signs, information laboriously extracted from patient chart notes and hospital billing data.
Lab data, it turned out, predicted in-hospital mortality best for most conditions studied. For stroke, chart data–specifically signs of altered mental status–were the best predictor."
