title: What's the hold up? Factors contributing to delays in discharge of trauma patients after medical clearance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  One area of potential savings in healthcare spending is the identification of nonmedical delays in discharge. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with discharge delays.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients admitted to our trauma center over a 1-year period with a social work consult were retrospectively evaluated to identify delays in discharge after medical clearance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over half of our patients experienced a delay in discharge. Age was not associated with delay in discharge. Higher injury severity score, intensive care unit admission, and hospital length of stay greater than 1 week were all associated with increased delays in discharge. Other factors such as disposition to a rehabilitation/nursing facility and mechanism of injury were also associated with a nonmedical delay.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have identified nonmedical factors associated with delays in discharge. Strategies using these data could be used to improve discharge planning and may help decrease healthcare costs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA. Electronic address: JeffWatkins@MHD.com.
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Jose R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Soto
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Brittany
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bankhead-Kendall
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Rappa
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Truitt
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Ernest
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dunn
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000191:economics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014193:Trauma Centers; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Delay; Discharge; Length of stay; Social work; Trauma