Cargando…

Delay in discharge and its impact on unnecessary hospital bed occupancy

BACKGROUND: Elderly patients are potentially more vulnerable to prolonged hospital stay as they frequently require additional resources to facilitate their discharge. In an acute hospital setting, we aimed to quantify and compare length of stay (LOS) for all patients over and under the age of 65, an...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Majeed, Muhammad Umair, Williams, Dean Thomas, Pollock, Rachel, Amir, Farhat, Liam, Martin, Foong, Keen S, Whitaker, Chris J
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3511236/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23167656
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-410
_version_ 1782251562814406656
author Majeed, Muhammad Umair
Williams, Dean Thomas
Pollock, Rachel
Amir, Farhat
Liam, Martin
Foong, Keen S
Whitaker, Chris J
author_facet Majeed, Muhammad Umair
Williams, Dean Thomas
Pollock, Rachel
Amir, Farhat
Liam, Martin
Foong, Keen S
Whitaker, Chris J
author_sort Majeed, Muhammad Umair
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Elderly patients are potentially more vulnerable to prolonged hospital stay as they frequently require additional resources to facilitate their discharge. In an acute hospital setting, we aimed to quantify and compare length of stay (LOS) for all patients over and under the age of 65, and identify the number and cause of days lost under the care of a single surgical unit. METHODS: Over a 4 month period from January to April 2010, data on the management and source of potential delay was collected daily on consecutive patients admitted and discharged under the care of one consultant surgeon at a district general hospital. Statistical analysis was then performed with particular focus on actual delays affecting elderly patients. RESULTS: A total of 99 complete inpatients episodes were recorded. There were 30 elective and 69 acute admissions. 10 (33%) elective vs. 42 (61%) acute patients encountered delays, losing 39 and 232 days respectively (χ(2) [1, N = 99] = 6.36, p = .012). 23 of a total 39 elderly patients admitted acutely required specialist care of the elderly opinion and placement in community hospitals resulting in delays of 188 days. vs. 36 days for the 16 discharged home and 8 days for 30 patients under 65 (χ(2) (2, N = 69) = 26.54, p = <.001). CONCLUSIONS: Elderly patients experiencing acute surgical admission and discharge to community hospitals had prolonged LOS due to significant delays associated with care of the elderly provision. The financial considerations behind bed capacity in primary and secondary care and the provision of care of elderly services need to be balanced against unnecessary occupancy of acute hospital beds with its associated health and economic implications.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3511236
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2012
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-35112362012-12-01 Delay in discharge and its impact on unnecessary hospital bed occupancy Majeed, Muhammad Umair Williams, Dean Thomas Pollock, Rachel Amir, Farhat Liam, Martin Foong, Keen S Whitaker, Chris J BMC Health Serv Res Research Article BACKGROUND: Elderly patients are potentially more vulnerable to prolonged hospital stay as they frequently require additional resources to facilitate their discharge. In an acute hospital setting, we aimed to quantify and compare length of stay (LOS) for all patients over and under the age of 65, and identify the number and cause of days lost under the care of a single surgical unit. METHODS: Over a 4 month period from January to April 2010, data on the management and source of potential delay was collected daily on consecutive patients admitted and discharged under the care of one consultant surgeon at a district general hospital. Statistical analysis was then performed with particular focus on actual delays affecting elderly patients. RESULTS: A total of 99 complete inpatients episodes were recorded. There were 30 elective and 69 acute admissions. 10 (33%) elective vs. 42 (61%) acute patients encountered delays, losing 39 and 232 days respectively (χ(2) [1, N = 99] = 6.36, p = .012). 23 of a total 39 elderly patients admitted acutely required specialist care of the elderly opinion and placement in community hospitals resulting in delays of 188 days. vs. 36 days for the 16 discharged home and 8 days for 30 patients under 65 (χ(2) (2, N = 69) = 26.54, p = <.001). CONCLUSIONS: Elderly patients experiencing acute surgical admission and discharge to community hospitals had prolonged LOS due to significant delays associated with care of the elderly provision. The financial considerations behind bed capacity in primary and secondary care and the provision of care of elderly services need to be balanced against unnecessary occupancy of acute hospital beds with its associated health and economic implications. BioMed Central 2012-11-20 /pmc/articles/PMC3511236/ /pubmed/23167656 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-410 Text en Copyright ©2012 Majeed et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Majeed, Muhammad Umair
Williams, Dean Thomas
Pollock, Rachel
Amir, Farhat
Liam, Martin
Foong, Keen S
Whitaker, Chris J
Delay in discharge and its impact on unnecessary hospital bed occupancy
title Delay in discharge and its impact on unnecessary hospital bed occupancy
title_full Delay in discharge and its impact on unnecessary hospital bed occupancy
title_fullStr Delay in discharge and its impact on unnecessary hospital bed occupancy
title_full_unstemmed Delay in discharge and its impact on unnecessary hospital bed occupancy
title_short Delay in discharge and its impact on unnecessary hospital bed occupancy
title_sort delay in discharge and its impact on unnecessary hospital bed occupancy
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3511236/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23167656
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-410
work_keys_str_mv AT majeedmuhammadumair delayindischargeanditsimpactonunnecessaryhospitalbedoccupancy
AT williamsdeanthomas delayindischargeanditsimpactonunnecessaryhospitalbedoccupancy
AT pollockrachel delayindischargeanditsimpactonunnecessaryhospitalbedoccupancy
AT amirfarhat delayindischargeanditsimpactonunnecessaryhospitalbedoccupancy
AT liammartin delayindischargeanditsimpactonunnecessaryhospitalbedoccupancy
AT foongkeens delayindischargeanditsimpactonunnecessaryhospitalbedoccupancy
AT whitakerchrisj delayindischargeanditsimpactonunnecessaryhospitalbedoccupancy