Ravangard R, Arab M, Zeraati H, Rashidian A, Akbarisari A, Mostaan F
Department of Health Management and Economics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Iran Red Crescent Med J. 2011 May;13(5):309-15. Epub 2011 May 1.
Length of Stay (LOS) is an appropriate hospital indicator to evaluate hospital resource utilization rate, efficiency, and quality of services delivered. In this survey, we aimed to study hospital LOS and determine its association with clinical and non-clinical factors in Women Hospital in Tehran.
In this cross-sectional study, we reviewed all 3421 charts of patients admitted in Oncology, Surgery and Obstetrics units in 2008. We used a data collection sheet and conducted interviews to collect the following data: distance from living area, medical insurance coverage types, admission and discharge months, days and times, inpatient units, final diagnoses and the number of diagnostic tests.
The overall median of the LOS in the studied hospital was 50.8 hours. The medians were 48.5, 54.4, and 94.2 hours in the Obstetrics, Surgical and Oncology units, respectively. Results showed that the associated factors with the LOS were patient admissions on Thursdays, admitting by residents, the number of performed diagnostic tests (p<0.001), suffering from neoplastic diseases (p=0.005) and spouse jobs.
Among the associated factors, policy makers and managers can only change the admission days and the number of diagnostic tests to decrease the LOS. Further researches are needed to find other factors associated with LOS.
住院时间（LOS）是评估医院资源利用率、效率及所提供服务质量的一项合适的医院指标。在本次调查中，我们旨在研究德黑兰妇女医院的住院时间，并确定其与临床和非临床因素的关联。
在这项横断面研究中，我们查阅了2008年肿瘤、外科和产科病房收治的所有3421例患者的病历。我们使用数据收集表并进行访谈以收集以下数据：居住地区距离、医疗保险覆盖类型、入院和出院月份、日期和时间、住院科室、最终诊断以及诊断检查数量。
所研究医院的住院时间总体中位数为50.8小时。产科、外科和肿瘤科的中位数分别为48.5小时、54.4小时和94.2小时。结果显示，与住院时间相关的因素包括周四入院、住院医师收治、诊断检查数量（p<0.001）、患有肿瘤疾病（p=0.005）以及配偶职业。
在这些相关因素中，政策制定者和管理者只能通过改变入院日期和诊断检查数量来缩短住院时间。需要进一步研究以找出与住院时间相关的其他因素。
