title: The definition of a prolonged intensive care unit stay for spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage patients: an application with national health insurance research database.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Length of stay (LOS) in the intensive care unit (ICU) of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH) patients is one of the most important issues. The disease severity, psychosocial factors, and institutional factors will influence the length of ICU stay. This study is used in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) to define the threshold of a prolonged ICU stay in sICH patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This research collected the demographic data of sICH patients in the NHIRD from 2005 to 2009. The threshold of prolonged ICU stay was calculated using change point analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 1599 sICH patients included. A prolonged ICU stay was defined as being equal to or longer than 10 days. There were 436 prolonged ICU stay cases and 1163 nonprolonged cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that the threshold of a prolonged ICU stay is a good indicator of hospital utilization in ICH patients. Different hospitals have their own different care strategies that can be identified with a prolonged ICU stay. This indicator can be improved using quality control methods such as complications prevention and efficiency of ICU bed management. Patients' stay in ICUs and in hospitals will be shorter if integrated care systems are established.
authors.affiliation: Department of Information Management, Yuan Ze University, 135 Yuan-Tung Road, Chungli, Taoyuan 32003, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chien-Lung
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Information Management, Yuan Ze University, 135 Yuan-Tung Road, Chungli, Taoyuan 32003, Taiwan ; Department of Neurosurgery, Taipei Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, No. 127, Su-Yuan Road, Hsin-Chuang District, New Taipei City 24213, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsien-Wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Ting
authors.affiliation: Medical Affairs Division, National Health Insurance Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, No. 140, Section 3, Hsin-Yi Road, Taipei 10634, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsin-Tsung
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs; D015996:Survival Rate; D013624:Taiwan