Bed usage in a Dublin teaching hospital: a prospective audit.
OBJECTIVE
We prospectively audited inpatient bed use in our hospital for the first three months of this year. While 70% (mean age 54 +/- 20.8 years) of our patients went home on the day they were medically discharged, 30% (mean age 70.3 +/- 18.3 years) remained in the hospital awaiting step-down facilities. The total of 486 bed days occupied by overstaying patients would if available, have allowed treatment of 54% more patients without any increase in the hospital complement of beds, preventing the cancellation of elective procedures and preventing patients remaining on trolleys overnight.


CONCLUSIONS
These prospective data emphasise (1) a highly inefficient use of acute hospital beds; (2) the need for step-down facilities; (3) efficient use of existing hospital beds is the highest priority both for optimal patient care and optimal use of expensive hospital resources; (4) efficient use of existing facilities should be achieved before the construction of additional facilities.
John
A
A
Department of Respiratory Medicine, James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Breen
D P
DP
Ghafar
Aabdul
A
Olphert
T
T
Burke
C M
CM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001509:Bed Occupancy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005260:Female; D006300:Health Services Misuse; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014600:Utilization Review