Wyllie J H, Kidson I G, Wyllie D H
Academic Unit of Surgery, Whittington Hospital, London.
BMJ. 1988 Nov 26;297(6660):1368-71. doi: 10.1136/bmj.297.6660.1368.
To examine fluctuations in numbers of patients on surgical wards the dates of admission from January of each of the 5556 patients admitted from 1 January 1985 to 31 December 1987 were examined during computerised audit of a single surgical firm. The numbers of patients under the care of the firm fluctuated widely, often exceeding the 38 beds nominally available. Duration of stay varied from two days or less (3062 admissions) to more than a month (163 admissions). One patient was in hospital for 278 days. The patients admitted for more than a month (2.9% of the total) filled 28% of the beds; not all these patients were elderly. A further increase in throughput of patients undergoing elective operations might be achieved by always admitting patients on the day of operation, and perhaps by discharging patients even sooner than at present. Efficiency would increase but so would overall costs.
为了研究外科病房患者数量的波动情况，在对一家外科科室进行计算机化审计期间，检查了1985年1月1日至1987年12月31日收治的5556例患者的入院日期。该科室护理的患者数量波动很大，经常超过名义上可用的38张床位。住院时间从两天或更短（3062例入院）到一个多月（163例入院）不等。有一名患者住院278天。住院超过一个月的患者（占总数的2.9%）占用了28%的床位；并非所有这些患者都是老年人。通过始终在手术当天收治患者，或许还可以比目前更早地让患者出院，可能会进一步提高择期手术患者的周转率。效率会提高，但总成本也会增加。
