Page 103 - Petelin, Ana, and Šarabon, Nejc. 2018. Eds. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Znanstvena monografija / Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 103
Methods factors influencing hospital length of stay in non-acute care setting 103
A retrospective cross-sectional study using data from nursing documentation
was carried out. The aims of the study were to examine whether the length of
hospitalization in non-acute hospital care setting is associated with the patients
demographic characteristics, the needs for nursing care, family support, and
medical diagnosis at discharge.
Population, sample
The research sample included data on all (n = 431; 100 %) patients who were hos-
pitalized at the Non-acute nursing department of University Medical Center
Ljubljana in 2016. The majority (70.7 %, n = 305) were women with an average
age of 84.1 years (Standard deviation (Sd) = 10.6). The average age of all patients
was 79.5 years (Sd = 10.7). Patients hospital length of stay lasted on average 24.3
days (Sd = 10.7). Half of patients (50.35 %) were hospitalized four (n = 102; 23.67
%) or five (n = 115; 26.68 %) weeks. In some cases (n = 41; 6.26 %) hospitalization
lasted longer than 35 days (Max = 150 days).
Instrument
Data were obtained from acute hospital discharge, nursing care documenta-
tion, from social workers’ reports and from non-acute nursing discharge doc-
uments. The collected data were: gender, age, the acute hospital referral de-
partment, the number of hospitalization days, the admission and discharge
medical diagnosis, nursing diagnosis and the category of nursing care. In order
to simplify the data analysis, only the first medical diagnosis of the individu-
al patient was recorded. Data about visits of patient relatives and their involve-
ment in care were summarized from the documentation of the social worker.
Data analysis
SPSS version 23.0 was used for data analysis. Variables were described as fre-
quencies (n) and proportions (%), the smallest (Min.) and the highest (Max.)
value, average (M), median (Me), and the standard deviation (Sd). When
the numerical variables were not distributed normally, the nonparametric
tests were used for analysis. Correlation between the variables was calculat-
ed with the Spearman coefficient (r), the difference between two groups with
the Mann-Whitney U-test, and the correlations and the difference between the
three groups with Kruskal-Wallis test. The confidence level was set at 95 %.
Results
Patients that were admitted to the non acute care department were transferred
mostly from surgical hospital departments, and a fifth of them from the med-
ical department (Table 1).
A retrospective cross-sectional study using data from nursing documentation
was carried out. The aims of the study were to examine whether the length of
hospitalization in non-acute hospital care setting is associated with the patients
demographic characteristics, the needs for nursing care, family support, and
medical diagnosis at discharge.
Population, sample
The research sample included data on all (n = 431; 100 %) patients who were hos-
pitalized at the Non-acute nursing department of University Medical Center
Ljubljana in 2016. The majority (70.7 %, n = 305) were women with an average
age of 84.1 years (Standard deviation (Sd) = 10.6). The average age of all patients
was 79.5 years (Sd = 10.7). Patients hospital length of stay lasted on average 24.3
days (Sd = 10.7). Half of patients (50.35 %) were hospitalized four (n = 102; 23.67
%) or five (n = 115; 26.68 %) weeks. In some cases (n = 41; 6.26 %) hospitalization
lasted longer than 35 days (Max = 150 days).
Instrument
Data were obtained from acute hospital discharge, nursing care documenta-
tion, from social workers’ reports and from non-acute nursing discharge doc-
uments. The collected data were: gender, age, the acute hospital referral de-
partment, the number of hospitalization days, the admission and discharge
medical diagnosis, nursing diagnosis and the category of nursing care. In order
to simplify the data analysis, only the first medical diagnosis of the individu-
al patient was recorded. Data about visits of patient relatives and their involve-
ment in care were summarized from the documentation of the social worker.
Data analysis
SPSS version 23.0 was used for data analysis. Variables were described as fre-
quencies (n) and proportions (%), the smallest (Min.) and the highest (Max.)
value, average (M), median (Me), and the standard deviation (Sd). When
the numerical variables were not distributed normally, the nonparametric
tests were used for analysis. Correlation between the variables was calculat-
ed with the Spearman coefficient (r), the difference between two groups with
the Mann-Whitney U-test, and the correlations and the difference between the
three groups with Kruskal-Wallis test. The confidence level was set at 95 %.
Results
Patients that were admitted to the non acute care department were transferred
mostly from surgical hospital departments, and a fifth of them from the med-
ical department (Table 1).
