title: Impact of a short stay unit on asthma patients admitted to a tertiary pediatric hospital.
abstract: A short stay unit (SSU) was opened at the Children's Hospital, Boston, with the aim of better fulfilling the needs of pediatric patients with straightforward diagnoses. Using historical and simultaneous comparison groups and controlling for disease severity, the opening of the SSU led to a decrease of between 16.5 and 28.4 percent in the mean length of stay for asthma patients without any increase in the rate of hospital readmission.
authors.affiliation: Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Lovejoy
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Rutherford
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Baskin
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001249:Asthma / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D001900:Boston; D002648:Child; D006745:Hospital Bed Capacity, 300 to 499; D017722:Hospital Charges; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data