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[Explanatory factors for length of stay in the postoperative intensive care unit]
M Lehmann1, P Mezzarobba, S Niederkorn
1Département de l'information médicale, hôpital Gaston-Doumergue, Nîmes, France.
Objectives:
Because of the increasing role of post-anaesthesia care in anaesthetic activity, the explicative value of various factors on post-anaesthesia length of stay (POLS) was tested.
Study Design:
Retrospective study.
Patients:
Population of 38,655 patients admitted to the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) between 1990 and 1994.
Method:
Multivariate analysis (semiparametric Cox model) of POLS.
Results:
Overall 71% of the patients stayed less than four hours in PACU. Average POLS did not vary with years. Eleven variables were related to POLS, with an odds-ratio (OR) between 0.75 and 0.77 (negative link) or between 1.22 and 2.77 (positive link). A comparison of the OR for years 1990 to 1994 indicated major variations for the following three variables: neurosurgery, mechanical ventilation in PACU, low occupancy rate in the PACU at the time of discharge.
Conclusion:
POLS are linked with various factors whose changes in explicative value can be analysed chronologically. However, other methods remain necessary in order to evaluate the impact of organisational modifications, as the introduction of objective criteria for discharge.