Baseline characteristics of patients
| Baseline characteristics | PA/MD model (n=1021) | MD model (n=1286) | p Value |
| Medical specialty, n(%) | <0.01 | ||
| Surgery | 601 (59%) | 696 (54%) | |
| Gastroenterology | 102 (10%) | 181 (14%) | |
| Pulmonology | 91 (9%) | 107 (8%) | |
| Cardiology | 101 (10%) | 124 (10%) | |
| Orthopaedics | 103 (10%) | 100 (8%) | |
| ENT, head and neck oncology surgery | 23 (2%) | 78 (6%) | |
| Hospital type, n(%) | <0.01 | ||
| Teaching | 552 (54%) | 709 (55%) | |
| Academic | 23 (2%) | 78 (6%) | |
| Non-academic | 529 (52%) | 631 (49%) | |
| Non-teaching | 469 (46%) | 577 (45%) | |
| Gender, male, n(%) | 524 (53%) | 682 (54%) | 0.47 |
| Age, years, mean ± SD | 64±16 | 63±15 | 0.11 |
| Major diagnoses, n(%) | <0.01 | ||
| Digestive system | 204 (20%) | 247 (19%) | |
| Circulatory system | 158 (16%) | 274 (22%) | |
| Neoplasms | 108 (11%) | 195 (15%) | |
| Musculoskeletal system and connective tissue | 120 (12%) | 119 (9%) | |
| Injury and poisoning | 135 (13%) | 80 (6%) | |
| Infectious and parasitic diseases | 59 (6%) | 81 (6%) | |
| Respiratory system | 51 (5%) | 75 (6%) | |
| Symptoms | 61 (6%) | 87 (7%) | |
| Charlson index for comorbidity score, mean±SD (% with score≥1) | 1.1±1.8 (43%) | 1.1±1.8 (44%) | 0.65 0.66 |
| Highest education, n(%) | 0.15 | ||
| Low | 371 (38%) | 422 (34%) | |
| Middle | 380 (39%) | 489 (40%) | |
| High | 233 (24%) | 328 (27%) | |
| Ethnicity, Dutch, n(%) | 976 (99%) | 1212 (98%) | 0.15 |
| Marital status, n(%) | 0.29 | ||
| No partner | 136 (14%) | 167 (14%) | |
| Partner | 730 (74%) | 949 (77%) | |
| Widow | 119 (12%) | 125 (10%) | |
| Smoking status, n(%) | 0.65 | ||
| No, never smoked | 325 (33%) | 385 (31%) | |
| No, but ever smoked | 494 (48%) | 626 (50%) | |
| Yes, still smoking | 174 (17%) | 230 (19%) | |
| Body mass index (mean±SD) | 27±5 | 27±5 | 0.79 |
| Number of hospitalisations for same problem, n(%) | 0.20 | ||
| 1 hospitalisation | 580 (59%) | 693 (56%) | |
| >1 hospitalisation | 403 (41%) | 540 (44%) | |
| Type of admission, n(%) | <0.01 | ||
| Elective | 402 (41%) | 687 (56%) | |
| Urgent | 588 (59%) | 547 (44%) | |
| Discharge destination, n(%) | <0.01 | ||
| Home | 765 (90%) | 965 (92%) | |
| Hospital | 12 (1%) | 30 (3%) | |
| Nursing home/rehabilitation centre/hospice | 56 (7%) | 28 (3%) | |
| Family relative | 18 (2%) | 25 (2%) |
Numbers may not add up to the total because of missing values.
ENT, ear, nose, throat; MD, medical doctor; PA, physician assistant.