Admission time to hospital: a varying standard for a critical definition for admissions to an intensive care unit from the emergency department.
Conclusions Different methods are used in Australia and New Zealand to define admission time to hospital. Professional bodies, hospitals and jurisdictions should ensure standardisation of definitions for appropriate interpretation of KPIs as well as for the interpretation of studies assessing the impact of admission time to ICU from the ED. What is known about the topic? There are standards for the maximum time spent in the ED internationally, but these standards vary greatly across Australia. The definition of such a standard is critically important not only to patient care, but also in the assessment of hospital outcomes. Key performance indicators rely on quality data to improve decision-making. What does this paper add? This paper quantifies the variability of times measured and analyses why the variability exists. It also discusses the impact of this variability on assessment of outcomes and provides suggestions to improve standardisation. What are the implications for practitioners? This paper provides a clearer view on standards regarding length of stay in the ICU, highlighting the importance of key performance indicators, as well as the quality of data that underlies them. This will lead to significant changes in the way we standardise and interpret data regarding length of stay.
PMID: 25376912 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Nanayakkara S, Weiss H, Bailey M, van Lint A, Cameron P, Pilcher D Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research
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