Introdução: Nas últimas décadas, vários fatores determinaram importantes modificações no modo de prover assistência psiquiátrica. Entre estes, destacam-se as mudanças no modo como entendemos os transtornos mentais, os avanços e melhora na disponibilidade de tratamentos psiquiátricos, o aumento do interesse político em saúde mental, além da ênfase nos custos da assistência médica. Com isto, a internação psiquiátrica passou a representar uma parcela menor entre os recursos utilizados na assistência em saúde mental. A Psiquiatria hospitalar atual cumpre a função de realizar diagnóstico e tratar sintomas agudos com a finalidade de esbater riscos, focada em estabilização, segurança do paciente e curta permanência. Neste contexto, o estudo de desfechos negativos entre pacientes que internam em leito psiquiátrico de hospital geral torna-se cada vez mais necessário. Objetivos: Identificar determinantes de desfechos negativos entre pacientes que internaram em leito psiquiátrico de hospital geral, definidos a priori como tempo de internação prolongado, reinternação e morte por qualquer causa em um ano a partir do momento da alta hospitalar. Métodos: Estudo naturalístico, longitudinal e prospectivo, realizado em unidade psiquiátrica de um hospital geral universitário de nível terciário. Pacientes admitidos entre junho de 2011 e dezembro de 2013 com 18 anos ou mais foram considerados elegíveis, exceto os que tivessem transtorno por uso de substâncias como diagnóstico principal, agitação psicomotora grave nas primeiras 72 horas da admissão, comprometimento cognitivo suficiente para comprometer a avaliação ou recusa em participar da pesquisa. Dados sociodemográficos e clínicos foram coletados na admissão, alta e um ano após a alta. Resultados: No artigo 1, seis variáveis explicaram 14,6% da variabilidade no tempo de internação: ausência de renda própria, história de internações psiquiátricas nos últimos dois anos, escore total na Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale e na Clinical Global Impression, diagnóstico de Esquizofrenia e história de tentativas de suicídio. O artigo 2 reafirmou o papel das internações anteriores em predizer internações futuras (RC1.38; IC 1.16-1.60) e demonstrou que para pacientes que internaram em episódio depressivo, não estar em remissão no momento da alta aumenta o risco de reinternação (RC 2.40; IC 1.14-5.07), assim como maiores escores na Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale no momento da alta para aqueles admitidos por Esquizofrenia. O artigo 3 reportou a mortalidade entre os pacientes acompanhados um ano 9 após a alta, mais de três vezes maior que a mortalidade da população geral para o mesmo período e área geográfica. Discussão: Os três estudos produzidos por esta tese colaboram para o corpo de evidências sobre desfechos adversos entre pacientes que internaram em leito psiquiátrico de hospital geral. O modelo de internação psiquiátrica em hospital geral é amplamente defendido pela Psiquiatria contemporânea como o melhor para tratamento de agudizações de transtornos mentais graves. Entretanto, não é o modelo majoritário tanto no Brasil como no mundo. Portanto, os resultados desta tese refletem os desfechos de um modelo assistencial preconizado, porém não predominante. Considerações finais: Ainda carecemos de pesquisas que se dediquem a avaliar desfechos negativos em internação psiquiátrica de hospital geral. / Introduction: In the last decades, several factors have determined significant changes in the way to provide psychiatric care. These include changes in the way we understand mental disorders, advances and improvements in the availability of psychiatric treatments, increased political interest in mental health, and emphasis on health care costs. With this, psychiatric hospitalization started to represent a smaller portion of the resources used in mental health care. It fulfills the function of diagnosing and treating acute symptoms with the purpose of avoiding risks, being focused on stabilization, patient safety and short stay. In this context, the study of negative outcomes among patients hospitalized in the psychiatric beds of general hospital becomes more and more necessary. Objectives: To identify determinants of adverse outcomes in patients admitted in psychiatric beds of a general hospital, defined a priori as longer hospital stay, rehospitalization and death from any cause one year after discharge. Methods: This is a naturalistic, longitudinal and prospective study carried out in a psychiatric unit of a general university-level tertiary care hospital. Patients admitted between June 2011 and December 2013 aged 18 years and over were considered eligible, except those who had substance use disorders as the main diagnosis, severe psychomotor agitation in the first 72 hours of admission, cognitive impairment sufficient to compromise the evaluation or refusal to participate in the research. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected on admission, discharge and one year after discharge. Results: In article 1, six variables explained 14,6% of the variability of length-of-stay: absence of own income, history of psychiatric hospitalizations in the last two years, the total score of Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and Clinical Global Impression, Schizophrenia diagnosis and history of suicide attempts. Article 2 reaffirmed the role of previous admissions in predicting future hospitalizations. Also, for patients admitted in a depressive episode, not being in remission at discharge increases the chance to be readmitted (OR 2.40; CI 1.14-5.07), as well as higher scores in the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale at discharge for patients with Schizophrenia (OR 1.28, CI 1.11-1.48). Article 3 reported the mortality among patients followed up, more than three times greater than the mortality of the general population for the same period and geographical area. Discussion: The three studies produced by this thesis collaborate to the body of evidence about adverse outcomes among patients admitted in psychiatric beds of a general hospital. Contemporary psychiatry widely advocates the model of psychiatric hospitalization in general hospital as the best for treatment of acute mental disorder exacerbations. However, it is not the majority model in Brazil as in the world. Therefore, the results of this thesis reflect the outcomes of a recommended, but not predominant, care model. Final considerations: We still lack researches that focus on evaluating negative outcomes in general hospital psychiatric hospitalization.

Os serviços de emergências hospitalares (EH) desempenham um papel fundamental no sistema de saúde, servindo de porta de entrada para hospitais e fornecendo cuidados para pacientes com lesões e doenças graves. No entanto, as EH em todo o mundo sofrem com o aumento da demanda e superlotação. Múltiplos fatores convergem simultaneamente para resultar nessa superlotação, porém a otimização do gerenciamento do fluxo dos pacientes pode auxiliar na redução do problema. Nesse contexto, o tempo de permanência dos pacientes na EH (TPEH) é consolidado na literatura como indicador de qualidade do fluxo de pacientes. O tema desta dissertação é a previsão e gestão da demanda em EH com alto grau de congestionamento, que é abordado através de três artigos científicos. O objeto de estudo é o Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA). No primeiro artigo, são aplicados quatro modelos de previsão da procura por atendimento na EH, avaliando-se a influência de fatores climáticos e de calendário. O segundo artigo utiliza a técnica de regressão por mínimos quadrados parciais (PLS – partial least squares) para previsão de quatro indicadores relacionados ao TPEH para hospitais com alto grau de congestionamento. O tempo médio de permanência (TM) na EH resultou em um modelo preditivo com melhor ajuste, com erro médio absoluto percentual (MAPE - mean absolute percent error) de 5,68%. O terceiro artigo apresenta um estudo de simulação para identificação dos fatores internos do hospital que influenciam o TPEH. O número de exames de tomografias e a taxa de ocupação nas enfermarias clínicas e cirúrgicas (ECC) foram as que mais influenciaram. / Emergency departments (ED) play a key role in the health system, serving as gateway to hospitals and providing care for patients with injuries and serious illnesses. However, EDs worldwide suffer from increased demand and overcrowding. Multiple factors simultaneously converge to result in such overcrowding, and the optimization of patient flow management can help reduce the problem. In this context, the length of stay of patients in ED (LSED) is consolidated in the literature as a patient flow quality indicator. This thesis deals with forecast and demand management in EDs with a high degree of congestion. The subject is covered in three scientific papers, all analyzing data from the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre’s ED. In the first paper we apply four demand forecasting models to predict demand for service in the ED, evaluating the influence of climatic and calendar factors. The second article uses partial least squares (PLS) regression to predict four indicators related to LSED. The mean length of stay in the ED resulted in a model with the best fit, with mean percent absolute error (MAPE) of 5.68%. The third article presents a simulation study to identify the internal hospital factors influencing LSED. The number of CT exams and the occupancy rate in the clinical and surgical wards were the most influential factors.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / Spinal cord injury is a devastating condition, and its consequences impact on many facets of an individual's life. Activities of daily living such as personal care and housework might be difficult to perform post injury. The majority of spinal cord injury patients receive hospital-based rehabilitation to address these consequences. The normal length of hospital stay among spinal cord injury patients ranges from three to twelve months, and an increased length of stay are caused by development of secondary complications such as pressure sores, urinary tract infection and respiratory infection. The purpose of this study was to determine factors affecting length of hospital stay for individuals with spinal cord injuries at Kanombe Military Hospital in Rwanda. To achieve this, a retrospective study, utilising a quantitative approach was used. The records of individuals with spinal cord injuries discharged from the hospital between 1st January1996 and 31st December 2007 were reviewed to collect data. A data gathering instrument was developed by the researcher and there after used to capture the relevant information from the patients' folders. Information collected included demographic data, information relating to the injury, occurrence of medical complications and length of hospital stay. One hundred and twenty four medical folders of patients discharged from 1st January 1996 to 31st December 2007 at Kanombe Military Hospital were reviewed for data extraction. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 for windows was used to analyse the data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were determined in SPSS. Associations were made between demographic factors and occurrence of secondary medical complications with length of hospital stay. These were computed by means of chi-square tests. One level of significance, alpha set at 5% was used throughout. The linear regression analysis was used to determine factors affecting the length of stay. / South Africa

Reducing ED wait times is a top health care priority for the Ontario government and hospitals in Ontario are incentivised to meet provincial ED wait time targets. In this study, we considered the costs and benefits associated with increasing the number of acute-care beds to reduce the time an admitted patient spends boarding in the ED. A shorter hospital LOS has often been cited as a potential benefit associated with shorter ED wait times. We derived a multivariable Cox regression model to examine this association. We found no significant association between ED boarding times and the time to discharge. Using a Markov model, we estimated an increased annual operating cost of $2.1m to meet the prescribed wait time targets. We concluded that increasing acute-care beds to reduce ED wait times would require significant funding from hospitals and would have no effect on total length of stay of hospitalized patients.

Because of the expense associated with hospital admissions, the use of observation status has grown. One of the most consistently measured outcomes in observation is the patient length of stay (LOS). Research supports the positive impact that nurse practitioners (NP) have on LOS when added to other service lines that could be applied to observation. Banner Desert Medical Center (BDMC) is currently attempting to decrease their observation LOS. Adding acute care nurse practitioners (ACNP) to the care delivery model is a potential intervention. The purpose of this project was to develop an executive summary to inform staff of current evidence that supports the addition of ACNPs to observation. Then, via a survey, the project aimed to determine the level of staff support by identifying the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM) Stage of Change and to recommend appropriate stage-matched interventions for staff based on TTM processes of change. The 10 Likert scale survey questions were adapted from two validated TTM surveys. The final question asked for the pros and cons of the intervention to determine the Decisional Balance (DB). The registered nurse (RN) cohort demonstrated consistently strong support for the proposed intervention with an average mean response of 6.57 on affirmative questions and a correspondingly low average mean of 2.2 on negative questions. When compared to the RN cohort, the physician cohort had lower mean responses with an average of 4.29 on every affirmative, a higher average mean response of 3.85 on the negatively worded questions. The DB for RNs was 19 pros to two cons. The DB for physicians was eight cons to three pros. These finding reflect that nurses are in the Preparation Stage of Change and are ready to move forward with adding ACNPs. An appropriate stage-matched intervention for registered nurses would be the development of change teams. In contrast, the physician cohort is in the Precontemplation stage and is not ready to proceed with adding ACNPs. Appropriate stage-matched interventions for physicians would include facilitating consciousness-raising activities such as an open forum to communicating information about the proposed change and to explore concerns and questions regarding the intervention.

The thesis analyses the influence of reimbursement regulatory fee for hospitalization which was introduced in regional hospitals in 2009 in Czech Republic. The difference in difference analysis was used to research the possible relationship between reimbursement of the fee and length of hospitalization in acute care hospitals and in after-care facilities. In acute care the influence was 0,5-1 % of the length and in after-care facilities between 8-12 %. This relationship may be biased because of introduction of DRG system which may decrease the length of stay and may be differently distributed between treatment and control group.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of cancer patients and the most frequently chosen nursing diagnoses, outcomes and interventions chosen for care plans from a large Midwestern acute care hospital. In addition the patients' outcome change scores and length of stay from the four oncology specialty units are investigated. Donabedian's structure-process-outcome model is the framework for this study. This is a descriptive retrospective study. The sample included a total of 2,237 patients admitted on four oncology units from June 1 to December 31, 2010. Data were retrieved from medical records, the nursing documentation system, and the tumor registry center. Demographics showed that 63% of the inpatients were female, 89% were white, 53 % were married and 26% were retired. Most patients returned home (82%); and 2% died in the hospital. Descriptive analysis identified that the most common nursing diagnoses for oncology inpatients were Acute Pain (78%), Risk for Infection (31%), and Nausea (26%). Each cancer patient had approximately 3.1 nursing diagnoses (SD=2.5), 6.3 nursing interventions (SD=5.1), and 3.7 nursing outcomes (SD=2.9). Characteristics of the patients were not found to be related to LOS (M=3.7) or outcome change scores for Pain Level among the patients with Acute Pain. Specifically, 88% of patients retained or improved outcome change scores. The most common linkage of NANDA-I, NOC, and NIC (NNN), a set of standardized nursing terminologies used in the study that represents nursing diagnoses, nursing-sensitive patient outcomes and nursing interventions, prospectively, was Acute Pain--Pain Level--Pain Management. Pain was the dominant concept in the nursing care provided to oncology patients. Risk for Infection was the most frequent nursing diagnosis in the Adult Leukemia and Bone Transplant Unit. Patients with both Acute Pain and Risk for Infection may differ among units; while the traditional study strategies rarely demonstrate this finding. Identifying the pattern of core diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes for oncology nurses can direct nursing care in clinical practice and provide direction for future research tot targets areas of high impact and guide education and evaluation of nurse competencies.

BACKGROUND: There is continued attention towards using patient demographic and clinical characteristics available in health administrative data when case mix adjusting the measurement of length of stay (LOS) for hospitalized children. However, little is known about what proportion of children’s LOS is explained by these characteristics. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study were to quantify the amount of variation in LOS within and across hospitals that is explained by demographic and clinical factors of hospitalized pediatric patients. METHODS: A retrospective cohort analysis was completed of 818,848 hospitalizations for any reason occurring from 1/1/2014 to 12/31/2014 in one of 44 freestanding children’s hospitals in the Pediatric Health Information Systems (PHIS) dataset. A generalized linear model was derived to simultaneously regress demographic factors [age, race/ethnicity, payer, rural residence, health professional shortage area (HPSA) residence, income, and distance traveled], and clinical factors (severity of illness, type and number of chronic conditions) on LOS. The percentage of LOS attributable to each characteristic within each hospital was quantified using the covariance test of the hospital random effect. RESULTS: The factors with the greatest impact on LOS were severity of illness and chronic condition type and number, with a median (interquartile range) of 16.8% (IQR 15.0%-19.4%) and 4.0% (IQR 2.9%-4.5%) of LOS, respectively, explained by these characteristics across hospitals. LOS varied significantly (p<0.05) with both severity of illness and chronic condition type and number for all 44 hospitals in the cohort. All patient demographic factors, (age, race/ethnicity, payer, rural residence, HSPA residence, income, and distance traveled) had minimal impact on LOS, with <0.1% of LOS explained by each characteristic. Across hospitals, 78.3% (IQR 75.8-80.2%)] of LOS remained unexplained by the patient characteristics under study. CONCLUSIONS: Patients’ clinical characteristics ascertained from administrative data account for approximately one-fifth of LOS whereas their demographic characteristics account for a negligible amount. Efforts to optimize the efficiency of inpatient care for hospitalized children might benefit from uncovering how much of the vast amount of unexplained LOS is due to modifiable aspects of care quality. / 2018-06-16T00:00:00Z

Managing postoperative pain continues to be a challenging public health problem. The organization under study was experiencing a prolonged length of hospital stay (LOS) in the post-total knee and hip replacement surgery population that was causing system-wide patient flow issues. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to educate patients through an established education class on pain expectations, strategies on managing pain, discharge planning, and physical therapy expectations with a goal of reducing pain and LOS. The health belief model was used as a guide to incorporate new content into the educational program that addressed patient knowledge on pain, concerns, fears, and misconceptions related to surgery. New content was added to the class on strategies to improve postoperative pain to help the organizational need to meet 2- to 3-day LOS. The project compared differences in pain levels and LOS in participants who completed the preoperative education and those who did not. The project methodology was a retrospective nonexperimental pretest and posttest design, and a quantitative analysis was used to compare pain levels measured by visual analog scale in documented charts during hospital stay. LOS was measured from data collected from chart review. The findings revealed lower pain levels during the hospital stay of those who completed the educational program. The patients who did not attend the class had an average mean LOS of 5 days as compared to 3 days LOS for those who attended the preoperative class. The project impacts social change on an organizational level by demonstrating that patients undergoing joint replacement surgery benefit from the revised educational plan, which results in early mobility, better pain control, and decreased LOS.