title: Hospital bed occupancy: more than queuing for a bed.
abstract: Timely access to safe hospital care remains a major concern. Target bed-occupancy rates have been proposed as a measure of the ability of a hospital to function safely and effectively. High bed-occupancy rates have been shown to be associated with greater risks of hospital-associated infection and access block and to have a negative impact on staff health. Clinical observational data have suggested that bed occupancies above 85% could adversely affect safe, effective hospital function. Using this figure, at least initially, would be of value in the planning and operational management of public hospital beds in Australia. There is an urgent need to develop meaningful outcome measures of patient care that could replace the process measures currently in use.
authors.affiliation: Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. adkeegan@pnc.com.au
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Keegan
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D001509:Bed Occupancy / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003428:Cross Infection; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care