As part of the effort to collect and present data on the need to institute measures that reduce LOS/excess days, the following trends were evident. During the first test, a majority of the participants listed elements such as education, communication, and teamwork as significant to reduced LOS. Like Paton et al. (2014), they also viewed increased LOS as costly to patients and the hospital as well as the caregiver’s reputation. The responses from the closed-ended questions presented an interesting trend for LOS as a concern and issue in clinical settings. Also noted was the idea that a (66 percent) majority of hospitals do not have mechanisms structured towards a reduction in LOS (Clarke & Rosen, 2001).
The second test happened two weeks later following an educational intervention. This period saw a slight improvement in most of the responses. For instance, of those who took part in the survey, 90 percent noted that their hospitals lacked significant mechanisms to help in tackling LOS as an issue. The results show a massive 24 percent positive change. Also, everyone now agreed that LOS as an issue and had an adverse impact on service delivery. Interestingly, the educational intervention played a significant role in changing some of the responses (Chin, et al., 2011).
The individual challenge experienced involved the exclusion of one participant during the second study. The absence of this subject had a negative impact on the trend. Nonetheless, It was determined that the results remained consistent among most participants except for the second study when it moved more towards the need for change. This realization comes as a surprise because the researcher had accepted that the absence would have an enormously detrimental effect on the recorded pattern. Finally, the researcher predicts that, with additional intervention, there would be a further improvement on the assessment.
References
Chin, C. et al. (2011). Trends and predictors of length of stay after primary percutaneous coronary intervention: a report from the CathPCI registry. The American Heart Journal, 162 (6), 1052-1061.
Clarke, A., & Rosen, R. (2001). Length of stay: How short should hospital care be? European Journal of Public Health, 11 (2), 166-170.
Paton, F., Chambers, D., Wilson, P., Eastwood, A., Craig, D., & Fox, D. (2014). Initiatives to reduce length of stay in acute hospital settings: a rapid synthesis of evidence relating to enhanced recovery programmes . Journal of Health Services and Delivery Research, 2 (21), 1-52.
