Surgical ICU underutilization does not significantly discourage discharge

F Dexter; K Pearson; D L Griffiths; P Jebson

doi:10.1177/095148489600900403

Back

Surgical ICU underutilization does not significantly discourage discharge

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Surgical ICU underutilization does not significantly discourage discharge

F Dexter, K Pearson, D L Griffiths and P Jebson

Health services management research, Vol.9(4), pp.238-242

11/1996

DOI: 10.1177/095148489600900403

PMID: 10162520

View Online

Abstract

An SICU must have sufficient capacity to handle peak weekly demand to prevent re-admission and/or poor quality of care. Excess capacity may, however, encourage unnecessary SICU utilization. The goal of this study was to assess the influence of availability of SICU beds on patient discharge and re-admission rates. The case series included 1,492 days, 36,816 patient days, 8,821 discharges, and 186 re-admissions within 3 days from a 24-bed multidisciplinary SICU at a tertiary care center. Census was defined to equal the total number of patients in the SICU each day. We found low census levels were not associated with significantly lower discharge rates. Decreasing the census from 19-24 to 13-18 patients per day decreased discharge rates from 31% to 30%. Odds ratio that a decrease in census by five from 24 decreased discharge rate equaled 1.01 (95% confidence interval 0.96 to 1.06). We conclude that when hospital managers choose an appropriate SICU capacity they need not be concerned that intermittent excess capacity will prompt physicians to significantly decrease their discharge rates.

Bed Occupancy - statistics & numerical data

Hospital Costs

Health Services Accessibility - statistics & numerical data

Intensive Care Units - utilization

Postoperative Care - utilization

Logistic Models

Hospitals, University - utilization

Health Services Research - methods

Health Services Needs and Demand

Regression Analysis

Utilization Review - statistics & numerical data

Iowa

Patient Discharge - statistics & numerical data

Patient Admission - statistics & numerical data

Patient Readmission - statistics & numerical data

Details

Title: Subtitle: Surgical ICU underutilization does not significantly discourage discharge
Creators: F Dexter - Department of Anesthesia, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA
K Pearson
D L Griffiths
P Jebson
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Health services management research, Vol.9(4), pp.238-242
Publisher: England
DOI: 10.1177/095148489600900403
PMID: 10162520
ISSN: 0951-4848
eISSN: 1758-1044
Language: English
Date published: 11/1996
Academic Unit: Health Management and Policy; Anesthesia
Record Identifier: 9983806365402771

Metrics

27 Record Views