The Present Situation of Cooperative Sections with Community in Acute-care Hospitals and Their Influence on the Length of Hospital Stay

Abstract

The purpose of present study was to clarify the present situation and characteristics of cooperative sections with community(called as ‘section')in acute-care hospitals and their influence on the length of hospital stay.

The questionnaires were sent to 55 nursing directors in acute-care hospitals except for a maternity hospital of all 56 hospitals notifying emergency care in Kobe City on Japanese Hospital Catalogue '03―'04. Replies were obtained from 39 hospitals(70.9% of a recovery rate), and effective replies were 35. Twenty-eight hospitals(about 80%)had the section, but many hospitals had set the section for as short as 3.5 years on average. In the hospitals that had a medical social worker in the section, the average length of hospital stay was short, suggesting that the arrangement of a medical social worker may shorten the average length of stay in acute-care hospitals. There was no significant difference in the length of stay between the hospitals with sections with and without nurses. However, the importance of nursing function that supports patients who were able to receive care at home was suggested, because the length of stay were short in hospitals that mentioned “increasing patient received care at home” as an effect of the section. The average length of stay was short in the hospitals that had a route from wards as a patient introduction process of its section and that mentioned “the shortage of knowledge about the cooperation with community in the staff” as an issue. Therefore, the necessity for enlightenment of not only the section but also all staffs and the importance of systematization of an introduction route and support by nurse managers were suggested.