Question

As the education coordinator for HIM services, you have noted errors in the calculated length of stays (LOS) written on the discharge record facesheets by the new chart analyst. Your goal is to provide further training to him in calculating healthcare statistics to help alleviate this problem.

- Discharge record MR# 010362 is of a patient who was admitted to the hospital on March 24 and discharged on April 9.

- The second discharge record, MR# 120431, is of a patient admitted on the morning of July 12 who subsequently died at 11:10pm on the same day.

Calculate the length of stay for each of these 2 patients.

Answer 1

It is easy to calculate when a patient is admitted and discharged in the same month. However, when the patient is admitted and discharged in different months, the calculations must be adjusted accordingly. This can be achieved by subtracting the date of admission from the total number of days in the month the patient was admitted and then adding the total number of hospitalized days for the month in which the patient was discharged. For example, in first case, patient MR# 010362 was admitted to the hospital on March 24 and discharged on April 9. Therefore,

(March 31- March 24) + April 9 = 16 days.

When a patient is admitted and discharged on the same day, the length of stay is one day. In our 2^nd case, patient MR# 120431 was admitted on the morning of July 12 who subsequently died at 11:10pm on the same day. So, patient’s length of stay should be 1 day.