Canadian Urological Association Journal
The virtual home hospital septic stone discharge pathway
By Matthew Mancuso, Sabrina Pattar, Patrick Albers and 2 others.
Abstract
Introduction
Traditionally, patients with septic stones (SS) remain hospitalized until clinically stable and culture-directed oral antibiotic therapy can be initiated, leading to a prolonged hospital stay after source control. A novel virtual home hospital (VHH) pathway was introduced to enable early discharge with physician oversight, including lab work and home-based intravenous antibiotics pending rationalization. Our primary objective was to assess length of hospital stay (LOS). Secondary objectives included representation rates and other complications.
Methods
A total of 137 SS patients were retrospectively analyzed at the University of Alberta, of which 37 were enrolled in the VHH pathway. Collected data included demographics, clinical course details, blood culture results, admission timelines, and unplanned healthcare visits.