Predictors of Length of Hospital Stay in Children Presenting to the Emergency Department of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Length-of-stay is an important quality measure for emergency departments. The study aimed to find predictors for prolonged LOS in children. A cross sectional study was conducted from Jan 2017 to Mar 2018. Data were extracted from medical records of 5609 pediatric patients admitted to the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz University Hospital-ED, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Median LOS of the children was 74 mins. Multivariable analysis showed the difference in the expected LOS between patients DAMA and their non-DAMA counterparts was 72 mins. Difference in the expected LOS between patients at emergent and non-urgent triage was 89 mins, between urgent and non-urgent triage was 51 mins and difference between less urgent and non-urgent triage was 16 mins. Future studies should explore the contributing managerial and clinical factors that can explain such associations and might be the focus for future policy changes to reduce LOS in ED pediatric settings in Saudi Arabia.