A methodology for timing reviews of inpatient hospital stay.
OBJECTIVE
This paper aims to describe a methodology to inform decisions about the optimal time to schedule reviews of a patient's hospital stay and to provide an example of its implementation.


METHODS
Length of hospital stay was assessed in 1227 consecutive inpatient admissions. Data were transformed to reflect the probability of discharge from hospital in the following 7 days.


RESULTS
The resulting data reflected the points at which the conditional probability of being discharged were declining, revealing the potentially efficient times to conduct reviews of inpatient admissions.


CONCLUSIONS
The methodology outlined appears useful in assisting psychiatrists responsible for inpatient care to decide upon optimal times to review a patient's stay in hospital.
Page
Andrew C
AC
Clinical Psychology Unit, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia. andrew@psy.uwa.edu.au
Hooke
Geoff R
GR
Rampono
Jonathan
J
D000328:Adult; D003211:Concurrent Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011336:Probability; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D014904:Western Australia