title: [Predictive factors for inappropriate hospital stays in an internal medicine department].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We aimed to know which factors are associated with inappropriate stays in an internal medicine department.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included 1,046 hospitalisations and evaluated the justification of the admission using the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol.
  
  
  RESULTS
  176 (16.8%) stays were considered inappropriate. In a multiple regression model, variables defining an inappropriate stay were the number of days in hospital, diagnosis on admission and the weekly day.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are determining factors for inappropriate stays in an internal medicine department.
authors.affiliation: Area de Medicina, Hospital Alto Guadalquivir, Andújar, Jaén. jzambrana@ephag.es
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luis Zambrana García
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delgado Fernández
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cruz Caparrós
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dolores Martín Escalante
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Díez García
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruiz Bailén
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006300:Health Services Misuse; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors