Factors Affecting Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department
A large volume of visits can cause an emergency department (ED) to become overcrowded, resulting in a longer length of stay (LOS). The objective of this study was to analyze factors affecting the LOS in the pediatric ED. Methods: Records of all visits to the pediatric ED of the study hospital, from...
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Elsevier
2013-06-01
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| Series: | Pediatrics and Neonatology |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875957212001891 |
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| author | Sung-Tse Li Nan-Chang Chiu Wen-Chuan Kung Juei-Chao Chen |
| author_facet | Sung-Tse Li Nan-Chang Chiu Wen-Chuan Kung Juei-Chao Chen |
| author_sort | Sung-Tse Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A large volume of visits can cause an emergency department (ED) to become overcrowded, resulting in a longer length of stay (LOS). The objective of this study was to analyze factors affecting the LOS in the pediatric ED.
Methods: Records of all visits to the pediatric ED of the study hospital, from July 1, 2006 to June 31, 2007, were retrospectively retrieved. Data were collected from the hospital's computerized records system. Eta-squared correlation ratio and Cramer's V test evaluated the associations between variables. Two-thirds of the database was randomized for the classification and regression tree (CART) model-building dataset, and one-third was used for the validation dataset.
Results: A total of 29,035 patients visited the pediatric ED during the evaluation period. Of the total visits, 61.1% were due to complaints of fever. The mean LOS was 2.6 ± 4.67 hours, and 74.3% of visits had an LOS of shorter than 2 hours. The CART analysis selected five factors (waiting time for hospitalization, laboratory tests, door-to-physician time, gastrointestinal symptoms, and patient outcome) to produce a total of nine subgroups of patients. The mean LOS of the model-building dataset closely correlated with that of the validation dataset (r2 = 0.999).
Conclusion: Patients who were waiting for hospitalization for less than 8 hours or were not admitted, those without any laboratory tests, those having door-to-physician time less than 60 minutes, and those without any gastrointestinal symptoms had the shortest LOS. Patients who waited for hospitalization for more than 16 hours had the longest LOS. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9f9b64b5ff8540d78b849b13c20dd99c |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1875-9572 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2013-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Pediatrics and Neonatology |
| spelling | doaj-art-9f9b64b5ff8540d78b849b13c20dd99c2025-08-20T02:00:42ZengElsevierPediatrics and Neonatology1875-95722013-06-0154317918710.1016/j.pedneo.2012.11.014Factors Affecting Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency DepartmentSung-Tse Li0Nan-Chang Chiu1Wen-Chuan Kung2Juei-Chao Chen3Department of Pediatrics, Hsinchu Mackay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu, TaiwanMackay Medicine, Nursing and Management College, Taipei TaiwanNursing Department, Hsinchu Mackay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu, TaiwanDepartment of Statistics and Information Science, College of Management, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, TaiwanA large volume of visits can cause an emergency department (ED) to become overcrowded, resulting in a longer length of stay (LOS). The objective of this study was to analyze factors affecting the LOS in the pediatric ED. Methods: Records of all visits to the pediatric ED of the study hospital, from July 1, 2006 to June 31, 2007, were retrospectively retrieved. Data were collected from the hospital's computerized records system. Eta-squared correlation ratio and Cramer's V test evaluated the associations between variables. Two-thirds of the database was randomized for the classification and regression tree (CART) model-building dataset, and one-third was used for the validation dataset. Results: A total of 29,035 patients visited the pediatric ED during the evaluation period. Of the total visits, 61.1% were due to complaints of fever. The mean LOS was 2.6 ± 4.67 hours, and 74.3% of visits had an LOS of shorter than 2 hours. The CART analysis selected five factors (waiting time for hospitalization, laboratory tests, door-to-physician time, gastrointestinal symptoms, and patient outcome) to produce a total of nine subgroups of patients. The mean LOS of the model-building dataset closely correlated with that of the validation dataset (r2 = 0.999). Conclusion: Patients who were waiting for hospitalization for less than 8 hours or were not admitted, those without any laboratory tests, those having door-to-physician time less than 60 minutes, and those without any gastrointestinal symptoms had the shortest LOS. Patients who waited for hospitalization for more than 16 hours had the longest LOS.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875957212001891classification and regression treelength of staypediatric emergency department |
| spellingShingle | Sung-Tse Li Nan-Chang Chiu Wen-Chuan Kung Juei-Chao Chen Factors Affecting Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department Pediatrics and Neonatology classification and regression tree length of stay pediatric emergency department |
| title | Factors Affecting Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department |
| title_full | Factors Affecting Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department |
| title_fullStr | Factors Affecting Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department |
| title_full_unstemmed | Factors Affecting Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department |
| title_short | Factors Affecting Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department |
| title_sort | factors affecting length of stay in the pediatric emergency department |
| topic | classification and regression tree length of stay pediatric emergency department |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875957212001891 |
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