Abstract
Objective:The objective of this study is (1) to reveal hospital factors associated with the strength of a local healthcare network, and (2) to assess whether the implementation of a liaison critical pathway promotes differentiated functionality of the hospitals.
Methods:This study utilized a questionnaire to collect patient volume, average length of stay, details of the pathways used, and characteristics of the regions from all 625 hospitals that implemented a liaison critical pathway. The data was analyzed using linear regression modeling.
Results:Of the 625 hospitals surveyed, 232 (37.1%) hospitals participated in the study. In terms of hip fracture, hospitals with high patient volume (p=0.002) and short average length of stay (p=0.005) were related to high applicability of a liaison critical pathway. The average length of stay was significantly shorter by 12.8% in hospitals implementing the liaison critical pathway with specific criteria for discharge from acute hospital (p=0.036) when compared to hospitals without specific discharge criteria.
Conclusions:This study suggested an importance of discharge criteria in the liaison critical pathway.
