title: The Zebra system--a new patient classification system.
abstract: When the economical systems in the health care field are becoming more like those in 'the market for goods and services' it is important that the patients' need of nursing care as well as the costs for the nursing care can be documented in a systematic and reliable way. One way of doing that is to use a patient classification system. In this article the most used patient classification system in Sweden--the Zebra system--will be presented. The Zebra system makes it possible both to describe the individual patients' dependency level and to calculate the patients' requirements of nursing care both in staffing terms and costs, per month, per year, per patient stay, per diagnosis or DRG. It gives possibilities for managers to analyze the patient distribution in different categories of care during different periods of time, or if the patients' need of nursing care can explain the staffing requirements during a certain period, or if the distribution of days in different categories of care are related to age groups or diagnosis or DRG.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Levenstam
authors.forename: I B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Engberg
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000145:classification*; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000145:classification*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D016526:Workload