Limitations
In addition to its retrospective nature, the study did not include the
costs related to the miles driven by the patient or anyone accompanying
them nor the contribution of patients’ and caregivers’ time (i.e., a
societal perspective). Nonetheless, based on a former study of patients
from the unit of the tertiary center that included costs of patient
transportation to and from the unit and costs of accompanying personnel
[9], this issue is unlikely to undermine the general levels of
costs. An additional limitation of the study is the fact that the quick
diagnosis unit care delivery approach seems unique to the Spanish
National Health System, which precludes a generalizability of the
results.