Reduction of redundant hospital stay through controlled intervention

With the aim of reducing redundant hospital stay through controlled intervention, preset criteria for inpatient care were applied on a medical ward. The proportion of unjustified hospital stay days fell by 52.6% and the average length of stay on the experimental ward declined from 6.3 days to 4.6 days. On a control medical ward there was practically no change. At one-month follow-up, patients from the two wards did not differ in death rate, readmission rate, or subjective evaluation of health status.