Table 1.
Patient cohort characteristics (N=81,288)
| Overall | MRSA/VRE Flag Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| MRSA/VRE Flag1 | No flag for MRSA/VRE | ||
| N | 81,288 | 7,760 (10%) | 73,528 (90%) |
| Gender (N, % female) | 39,596 (49%) | 3,352 (43%) | 36,244 (49%) |
| Age (mean ± SD) in years | 60 ± 18 | 64 ± 18 | 60 ± 18 |
| Severity of illness (acuity) on admission (N, %) | |||
| Observation Unit | 12,395 (15%) | 599 (8%) | 11,796 (16%) |
| General Care Unit | 55,582 (68%) | 5,780 (74%) | 49,802 (68%) |
| Step-Down Unit | 6,196 (8%) | 457 (6%) | 5,739 (8%) |
| Intensive Care Unit | 7,115 (9%) | 924 (12%) | 6,191 (8%) |
| Residence prior to admission (N, %) | |||
| Home | 72,514 (89%) | 6,272 (81%) | 66,242 (90%) |
| Facility | 8,774 (11%) | 1,488 (19%) | 7,286 (10%) |
| Hospitalization within previous 30 days (N, %) | 16,921 (21%) | 3,033 (39%) | 13,888 (19%) |
| Clinical service (N, %) | |||
| Surgical | 36,966 (45%) | 2,688 (35%) | 34,278 (47%) |
| Medical | 44,322 (55%) | 5,072 (65%) | 39,250 (53%) |
| Discharge destination (N, %) | |||
| Home | 66,479 (82%) | 4,852 (63%) | 61,627 (84%) |
| Facility | 13,242 (16%) | 2,541 (19%) | 10,701 (15%) |
| Death | 1,567 (2%) | 367 (5%) | 1,200 (2%) |
| Time to bed arrival in hours (mean ± SD; geometric mean; median [25th–75th percentiles])2 | 9 ± 7 8 8 [5–11] |
10 ± 7 8 8 [5–12] |
9 ± 6 8 8 [5–11] |
| Occurrence of within-hospital transfers (N, %)2 | |||
| No transfers | 56,036 (69%) | 4,756 (61%) | 51,280 (70%) |
| Any transfers1 | 25,252 (31%) | 3,004 (39%) | 22,248 (30%) |
| Acuity-related transfers | 13,050 (16%) | 1,475 (19%) | 11,575 (16%) |
| Acuity-unrelated transfers | 16,566 (20%) | 2,126 (27%) | 14,440 (20%) |
| Length of stay in days (mean ± SD; geometric mean; median [25th 75th percentiles])2 | |||
| Total | 5 ± 6 3 3 [1–6] |
7 ± 8 5 5 [3–9] |
5 ± 6 3 3 [1–5] |
| Spent in double-occupancy units | 4 ± 5 2 3 [1–5] |
6 ± 7 4 4 [2–8] |
4 ± 5 2 2 [1–5] |
1
Of the 10% of patients with the MRSA/VRE flag (N=7,760), 38% (N= 2,949) had a history of MRSA, 41% (N= 3,181) had a history of VRE, and 21% (N= 1,630) had a history of both MRSA and VRE.
2
There was no significant difference in time to bed arrival, occurrence of within-hospital transfers or length of stay during the study period prior to the new inpatient building opening (1/1/2010–9/7/2011) and afterwards (9/8/2011–12/31/2011).
3
Patients contributing to the frequency of “Any transfers” may contribute to either OR both of the “Acuity-related transfers” or “Acuity-unrelated transfers” categories.