Differences between long-stay and short-stay inpatients and estimation of length of stay. A prospective study.
To find possible differences between new long-stay inpatients and patients with shorter lengths of stay, a prospective study of 340 inpatients in the 4th week of hospitalization was carried out. The new long-stay patients differed from the others in diagnoses, symptoms, duration of prior hospitalizations, and socio-demographic data. On the basis of the data assessed in the 4th week of hospitalization, we tried not only to predict future new long-stay patients, but also to estimate the length of stay for all 340 patients. A time-function model was employed with length of stay as a continuous variable, and this resulted in correct allocation to the quartiles in 38-48% of the cases. Six variables proved to be important for estimating length of stay: emotional withdrawal, blunted affect, mannerisms, duration of previous hospitalizations, living conditions (prior to admission), and marital status.
Psychiatric Clinic, Berne University, Switzerland.
J
J
Jakubaschk
D
D
Waldvogel
O
O
Würmle
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology