Surgical Operations in short-stay Hospitals United States-1968

Out of the universe of 6,965 hospitals, 413 hospitals participated during all or part of the 1968 data year and approximately 210,000 abstracts of sample discharges were received and processed; A detailed description of the sample design, data collection procedures, and the estimation process may be found in appendix I. An estimated 28.1 million inpatients were discharged from the Nation's short-stay hospitals during 1968. Thirty-nine percent of these patients had one or more surgical operations or procedures as defined herein. The highest proportions of patients treated surgically in 1968 were in the Northeast and West Regions. Fifty-one percent of the nonobstetrical inpatients discharged from short-stay hospitals having 300-499 beds had one or more surgical operations. More than one-half of the inpatients under the age of 15 years were treated surgically, with. an average of 1.2 operations per surgical patient in that age group. Only 37 percent of the adult patients (15 and over) had an operation.However, adult patients accounted for 84 percent of the estimated volume of operations and procedures performed for inpatients discharged in 1968.