Investigation of the correlation between inappropriate hospitalization and hospital stay rate: An application in medical clinics of a military hospital

Abstract

Background: Medical services play a major role in hospital facilities. Along with the medical applications and diagnoses, physicians affect the hospital costs by 70% to 80%. Therefore, the hospital administrators should establish some systems that can modify the current application models of physicians. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the appropriateness of hospitalization days and length of stay of the patients in 13 internal clinics in a military hospital. Study design: 5,205 patient days belonging to 416 patients were evaluated by Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol. Patients' data were retrospectively collected by using a "data collection form" through patients' files and then were evaluated by frequencies and percentage distributions. Results: The unnecessary hospitalization rate and unnecessary stay rate were 4.8% and 15.75%, respectively. The highest unnecessary hospitalization rates were in nuclear medicine (50%). Conclusion: It was concluded that the inappropriate hospitalization rate and inappropriate stay rates were 4.8% and 15.75%, respectively.