Amornta ArchapitakSuparb Aree-UePorntip Malathum2011-02-222011-02-222010-07-092010-07-09Ramathibodi Nursing Journal; vol. 15 No.2 May-August 2009http://imsear.searo.who.int/handle/123456789/131778Abstract: The length of a patient’s hospital stay has been used as an indicator ofthe quality of care. Prolonged hospitalization has an impact on patients, theirrelatives, and hospitals. The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate therelationship between selected factors (i.e. serum albumin level, functional ability atadmission, pain reduction, acute confusional state, number of complications, andnumber of co-morbidity) and the length of hospital stay for older patientsundergoing orthopedic surgery. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a sample of99 patients, aged 60 years and older, who were admitted to hospital for orthopedicsurgery of the spine, hip, and knee during a period from January to May 2008.Data collection procedures were conducted after approval by the Ethics Committeeof Rajavithi Hospital. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, andSpearman rank order correlation. Findings indicated that the length of the hospitalstay ranged from 7 to 81 days with a mean of 21.16 days. Serum albumin leveland functional ability at admission had a significant negative correlation with thelength of hospital stay in older patients undergoing orthopedic surgery, while acuteconfusional state and the number of complications were significantly, positivelycorrelated with the length of hospital stay. In conclusion, promotion of nutritionalstatus, maintenance of functional ability at admission, and prevention of complicationand acute confusional state had a correlation with the shortening of the length ofhospital stay in older patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. Findings of this studymay be used as basic information for enabling older patients who have undergoneorthopedic surgery to recover from the sickness and return home faster.Keywords:  Functional ability, Complications, Acute confusional state, Length ofhospital stay, Older patients, Orthopedic surgeryen-USFaculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, ThailandArticles