Exploratory multivariate analysis of hospital admissions data in conjunction with workforce data.

The prevalence of electronic health data has brought us a step closer to understanding of the dynamics of hospital admissions. However, little research has investigated hospital admission data in conjunction with information about the environment where the patient was admitted, such as staffing level and hospital type. This paper studied this crucial but often neglected issue by investigating hospital admission records together with workforce data. Exploratory multivariate analysis methods, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), were applied to study important variables associated with admission and workforce data. The exploratory results obtained shed light on the contribution of these variables to the typology of hospital admissions.