The Impact of Patient Safety Incident Experience on Length of Stay in Hospitals: Based on The In-Depth National Hospital Discharge Injury Survey Data 2016-2020

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of patient safety incident(PSI) experience on length of stay(LOS) in hospitals. The study used the Korean National Hospital Discharge Injury Survey Data(KNHDIS) 2016-2020. When weights were considered, the study subjects were 15,057 patients who experienced PSI. As the study method, a Poisson regression analysis was performed to investigate the association with PSI and As a result of the Wilcoxon rank sum test, the LOS for patients with PSI was 20.8 days, and the LOS for patients without PSI was 3.4 days, showing a significant difference. As a result of regression analysis adjusting for demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, and medical institution characteristics, a significant effect was confirmed between PSI experience and LOS in hospitals(RR=2.820 [95% CI=2.738-2.903]). When classified by type of PSI, the LOS for fall incident patients increased significantly(RR =3.018 [95% CI=2.922-3.117]). As a result of this study, it was confirmed that the experience of PSI had a significant effect on the increase in LOS in hospitals. Our findings can contribute to the establishment of preventive measures to reduce PSI.