Download Notes on Hospital Utilization

Dr. Rasha Salama
PhD Community Medicine and Public Health
Suez Canal University
Egypt
Utilization is defined as the manner in
which a certain community makes use of
its available hospital resources.
Utilization of a certain hospital can be
measured by:
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
Volume of Hospital Utilization.
Character of Individuals Utilizing Hospital.
Efficiency of Hospital Utilization
This is calculated according to:

Number of discharges (patients) of a hospital.

Days of hospital care (service days).
= sum of all patients days in hospital.

Average length of stay (ALS). The mean.

Character Utilization:



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Use according to age
Use according to sex
Use according to procedure i.e. biopsy, surgery…
Use according to diagnosis (through international
classification of disease).
Efficiency of hospital utilization:

An efficient hospital is one that is capable of
achieving these results with no or minimal
waste (cost/effectiveness).
Effectiveness of hospital utilization:

An effective hospital is one that is capable of
producing good results in terms of prevention
and cure of diseases and disabilities.

These are measured through:
 Beds costs and their number:
 Bed occupancy rate.
 Negative side – vacancy rate (no. of empty beds)
 Turn-over rate
Number of patients' day (service days) in a year
X 100
Number of beds x 365
Number of patients' day (service days) in a year
X 100
Number of beds x 30

Vacancy Rate =
100% - occupancy rate
The number of patients in a specific
period
The number of beds