(Infectious Disease and Therapy.) Edited by Burke A. Cunha. 848 pp. New York, Marcel Dekker, 1998. $235. ISBN 0-8247-0114-3.
The demand for increasing accountability with respect to thecost of health care has escalated pressure on physicians tomanage an increasing fraction of their patients' illnesses inthe outpatient setting. Primary care physicians, in conjunctionwith an expanding health care team, now provide diagnostic evaluationsand treatment for patients with increasingly complex healthproblems outside the hospital. As a consequence, patients whodo require hospitalization are extremely sick. One can envisionthat with progressive advances in outpatient care, many of ouracute care hospitals will consist almost entirely of wards ofintensive care or step-down units capable of providing . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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