The Operational Determinants of Inpatients Average Length of Stay

The patient average length of stay is an important performance indicator for the inpatients departments since it affects the mortality rate, cost per patient, and patients¿ readmission. A lot of hospitals over the last ten years whether in developed, developing or in transaction countries were reformed, the emphasis was on reducing the number of admissions and the length of stay, and the hospitals will continue reducing inappropriate admission and length of stay to be more efficient in the next decade.Accordingly, the hospitals operations managers whether in developing or in developed countries should have better insight about the factors determine the patients average length of stay. The operational determinants which are related to the operations actions (as service delivery, capacity actions, locations, and human resources) are the most important determinant which the operations managers should have better insight about, since these actions affects the service delivery and the outcomes directly.