Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36689424›Full record

ArticlePloS one2023

Associations of acute medical care with the transfer and acceptance functions of hospitals in a region in Japan with limited medical resources.

Takayuki Idaka, Hajime Iwasa, Seiji Yasumura

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. High-risk clonal expansion of IMP-producingAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Takayuki IdakaDepartment of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-4018-7549
Hajime IwasaDepartment of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan.
Seiji YasumuraDepartment of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan.
Fukushima Medical University · JP

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundJapan's health care system may be providing inpatient care inefficiently with a low number of physicians per hospital bed and a long average length of stay (LOS). The present study examined associations of acute medical care with hospital-level factors, such as the transfer and acceptance rates, and mediation effect of LOS, using medical service fees per day as an outcome measure for the provision of acute medical care in hospitals in a region with limited medical resources.

methodsTo analyze the associations of acute medical care with hospital-level factors, this research used multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) of a dataset that included 225,203 patients admitted to 99 hospitals in Fukushima, Japan. The characteristics of the patients, medical activities, and hospitals, such as the transfer and acceptance rates, were assumed to have both direct and indirect effects through LOS on medical service fees per day.

resultsThe final analysis used data from 165,413 patients discharged or transferred from 79 hospitals. After separating patient-level effects using multilevel SEM, the results revealed that, at the hospital level, the transfer rate had a significant and positive association with increased medical service fees per day, both directly (standardized coefficient [SC] = 0.215) and indirectly (SC = 0.057) through shortened LOS. The number of first hospitalized patients per physician had a significant and positive association with increased medical service fees per day only indirectly through shortened LOS (SC = 0.063). The acceptance rate had a significant and negative association with medical service fees per day only indirectly through prolonged LOS (SC = -0.078).

conclusionsHospital-level factors, such as enhanced transfer function, reduced acceptance function, and a large number of patients for treatment of acute episodes per physician, had positive associations with increased medical service fees per day, either directly or indirectly through LOS.

Indexed as

HospitalizationPatient DischargeHospitalsHumansJapanLength of Stay

Identifiers

PMID36689424
PMCPMC9870102
OpenAlexW4317761996

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.