Discharge delay in acute care: reasons and determinants of delay in general ward patients.

To identify the reasons and determinants of discharge delay in acute care patients, information associated with delayed discharge was extracted from the medical record of 1958 patients in a tertiary referral hospital in New South Wales. A logistic regression model was used to examine the association between demographic factors and reasons for discharge delay. Delayed discharge was most commonly associated with the patient's medical conditions, delayed health care or medical consultation, delayed diagnostic services and delayed allied health services. Elderly patients, those living alone and patients from a non-English-speaking background were more likely to have these reasons for delayed discharge.