Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38162606›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in public health2023

The pattern of emergency department length of stay in Saudi Arabia: an epidemiological Nationwide analyses of secondary surveillance data.

Abdullah A Alharbi, Mona Muhayya, Reem Alkhudairy, Ahmed A Alhussain, Mohammed A Muaddi, Ahmad Y Alqassim, Reem S AlOmar, Mohammed K Alabdulaali

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

10 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Observational
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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

8 authors.

Abdullah A AlharbiFamily and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Mona MuhayyaMinistry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Reem AlkhudairyMinistry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed A AlhussainMinistry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed A MuaddiFamily and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Ahmad Y AlqassimFamily and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Reem S AlOmarDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed K AlabdulaaliMinistry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Emergency department length of stay is a vital performance indicator for quality and efficiency in healthcare. This research aimed to evaluate the length of stay patterns in emergency departments across Saudi Arabia and to identify predictors for extended stays. The study used secondary data from the Ministry of Health's Ada'a program. Methods: Using a retrospective approach, the study examined data from the Ada'a program on emergency department length of stay from September 2019 to December 2021. These data covered 1,572,296 emergency department visits from all regions of Saudi Arabia. Variables analyzed included quality indicators, year of visit, shift time, hospital type, and data entry method. The analysis was conducted using multiple linear regression. Results: The study found that the median length of stay was 61 min, with significant differences among related predictors. All associations were significant with a value of p of less than 0.001. Compared to 2019, the length of stay was notably shorter by 28.5% in 2020 and by 44.2% in 2021. Evening and night shifts had a shorter length of stay by 5.9 and 7.8%, respectively, compared to the morning shift. Length of stay was lower in winter, summer, and fall compared to spring. Patients in levels I and II of the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scales had longer stays than those in level III, with those in level I reaching an increase of 20.5% in length of stay. Clustered hospitals had a longer length of stay compared to the non-clustered ones. Pediatric hospitals had a 15.3% shorter stay compared to general hospitals. Hospitals with data entered automatically had a 14.0% longer length of stay than those entered manually. Patients admitted to the hospital had a considerably longer length of stay, which was 54.7% longer compared to non-admitted patients. Deceased patients had a 20.5% longer length of stay than patients discharged alive. Conclusion: Data at the national level identified several predictors of prolonged emergency department length of stay in Saudi Arabia, including shift time, season, severity level, and hospital type. These results underline the necessity of continuous monitoring and improvement efforts in emergency departments, in line with policy initiatives aiming to enhance patient outcomes in Saudi Arabia.

Indexed as

Emergency Service, HospitalLength of StayHumansRetrospective StudiesSaudi Arabiaemergency departmentepidemiologykey performance indicatorlength of staypublic healthSaudi Arabia

Identifiers

PMID38162606
PMCPMC10757469

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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.