Injury severity score, head injury, and patient wait days: contributions to extended trauma patient length of stay.

The ability of level I trauma units to operate efficiently may be hampered by the presence of a number of patients with an excessive length of stay (LOS). In an attempt to determine causes for and suggest potential solutions to the long-term occupation of beds in an acute care trauma facility, the cases of patients with extended LOSs in a level I trauma unit were examined. Study patients were survivors admitted between January 1, 1986, and December 31, 1989. Patients with a LOS greater than one standard deviation above the mean (n = 221) were assigned to the Long LOS group, and the remaining 1250 patients to the Short LOS group. Long and Short LOS patient groups were compared on a number of variables including injury Severity Score, number of body systems injured, surgical procedures required, blood products used, AIS scores per body region, and patient wait days. Both an increased severity of injury and a lack of available chronic and rehabilitation beds for the head-injured patients contributed to excessive patient LOS in this acute care setting. Additional rehabilitation and chronic care beds are required to free acute care beds for the efficient operation of a level I trauma unit.