Factors Affecting length of Stay in Specialized Women Hospital in Bandar Abbas

Aim: With the rapid increase in health care costs, the government and other healthcare providers have sought a solution to control costs and evaluate the performance of healthcare providing system. One of the effective indicators that can be used to determine the efficiency and optimal use of hospital resources, is the length of stay (LOS). This study aimed to determine the factors affecting LOS in Specialized Women Hospital in Bandar Abbas. Methods: The sample included medical records of 500 inpatients admitted to Shariati hospital from April 2015 to December 2015 selected by proportional allocation in stratified sampling. The data were collected from patients’ medical records and HIS. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney, and Spearman correlation coefficients. Results: The overall average length of stay was 1.98±1.93 days. The results showed that in this hospital the factors such as the length of stay between the morning and the evening admission, different causes of hospitalization, admission type, and admitting physician degree had a significant relationship (P-Value<0.05). Spearman correlation coefficient showed with increasing number of counseling, visits, and laboratory tests the length of stay also increased (P-Value<0.001). Conclusion: this study showed the factors affecting LOS in this hospital. Given the relationship between variables such as time of admission, diagnostic services, and type of admission with LOS, it seems that policymakers and executives are able to reduce the unnecessary stays in this hospital with providing adequate staffing for specialized services in all hours of the day, investigating the necessity of some laboratory tests, diagnostic services and review the processes, reducing admission of non-emergency cases in the evening and night, and using health information technology interventions.