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Research ArticleOriginal Article
Open Access

Global hospital bed utilization crisis. A different approach

Abdelkarim Waness, Jalal U. Akbar, Mubashar Kharal, Salih BinSalih and Mohammed Harakati
Saudi Medical Journal April 2010, 31 (4) 434-436;
Abdelkarim Waness
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Jalal U. Akbar
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Mubashar Kharal
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Salih BinSalih
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Mohammed Harakati
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To test the effect of improved physician availability on hospital bed utilization.

METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted from 1st January 2009 to 31st March 2009 in the Division of Internal Medicine (DIM), King Abdul-Aziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two clinical teaching units (CTU) were compared head-to-head. Each CTU has 3 consultants. The CTU-control provides standard care, while the CTU-intervention was designed to provide better physician-consultant availability. Three outcomes were evaluated: patient outsourcing to another hospital, patient discharge during weekends, and overall admissions. Statistical analysis was carried out by electronic statistics calculator from the Center for Evidence-Based Medicine.

RESULTS: Three hundred and thirty-four patients were evaluated for admission at the Emergency Room by both CTU's. One hundred and eighty-three patients were seen by the CTU-control, 6 patients were outsourced, and 177 were admitted. One hundred fifty-one patients were seen by the CTU-intervention: 39 of them were outsourced, and 112 were admitted. Forty-eight weekend patient discharges occurred during this period of time: 21 by CTU-control, and 27 by CTU-intervention. Analysis for odds ratio in both the rate of outsourcing, and weekend discharges, showed statistical significance in favor of the intervention group.

CONCLUSION: The continuous availability of a physician-consultant for patient admission evaluation, outsourcing, or discharge during regular weekdays and weekends at DIM, KAMC proved to have a positive impact on bed utilization.

  • Copyright: © Saudi Medical Journal

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License (CC BY-NC), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Saudi Medical Journal: 31 (4)
Saudi Medical Journal
Vol. 31, Issue 4
1 Apr 2010
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Global hospital bed utilization crisis. A different approach
Abdelkarim Waness, Jalal U. Akbar, Mubashar Kharal, Salih BinSalih, Mohammed Harakati
Saudi Medical Journal Apr 2010, 31 (4) 434-436;

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Global hospital bed utilization crisis. A different approach
Abdelkarim Waness, Jalal U. Akbar, Mubashar Kharal, Salih BinSalih, Mohammed Harakati
Saudi Medical Journal Apr 2010, 31 (4) 434-436;
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© 2025 Saudi Medical Journal Saudi Medical Journal is copyright under the Berne Convention and the International Copyright Convention.  Saudi Medical Journal is an Open Access journal and articles published are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (CC BY-NC). Readers may copy, distribute, and display the work for non-commercial purposes with the proper citation of the original work. Electronic ISSN 1658-3175. Print ISSN 0379-5284.

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