Cold bed: A challenge for an academic medical center in San Luis Potosi, Mexico
Abstract Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the time period during which a hospital bed could be virtually available according to the informatics and administrative hospital system while still being physically occupied by a patient in a hospital in Mexico. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a 250-bed Academic Medical Center located in Central Northern Mexico during February 2015. Both administrative and real patient discharges were registered in a hospital format. Central tendency measures were used to present collected data and bed/day costs were obtained from official national published costs. Results: Nine hundred and forty-three patients were followed up during their hospital discharge process. Overall, 2.4% of hospital beds were occupied by discharged patients. The annual cost only for cold beds was $959,220.00 US$ ($14,348,304.00 MNX), without bringing about any benefits for patients. Cold beds represented 1.31% of the 2015 annual hospital budget. Conclusions: Quality improvement initiatives must be implemented to allocate beds to patients more efficiently. The discharge process must be standardized to reduce bed/day direct hospital costs and strengthen the supervision of medical residents during this process.
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Academia Mexicana de Cirugía A.C.
2020
|
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2444-054X2020000200189 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|