Table 1.

Definition of study variables

Variables	Definition	Measurement	Data Source
Input variables
BEDS	Beds	Total number of hospital beds during the financial year	Annual Health Sector Performance Report 2012/2013
STAFF	Medical Staff	Total number of doctors, nurses, Clinical officers, Laboratory technicians and anesthetic officers.	Annual Health Sector Performance Report 2012/2013
Output variables
INPATDAYS	In Patient days	Total number of inpatient days for the Financial year	Annual Health Sector Performance Report 2012/2013
OPD	Outpatient visits	Total number of outpatient visits during the Financial year	Annual Health Sector Performance Report 2012/2013
Explanatory variables
BOR	Bed Occupancy Rate	Proportion of beds which are occupied over a specified period of time	Annual Health Sector performance report 2012/2013
OPDIPD	Outpatient visits as a proportion of inpatient days;	Total Outpatient department visits divided by the total inpatient days	Annual Health Sector performance report 2012/2013 (calculated)
ALOS	Average Length of Stay	Average number of days that patients spend in hospital. Measured by dividing the total number of days stayed by all inpatients during a year by the number of admissions	Annual Health Sector performance report 2012/2013
SIZE	Hospital Size	Number of beds in the hospital. 1 if >190 and 0 if <190	Annual Health Sector performance report 2012/2013
OWN	Ownership	Governing authority of hospital. 1 if Government/private hospital owned; 0 if NGO/PNFP	Annual Health Sector performance report 2012/2013
TEACH	Teaching status	Whether a hospital is attached to a university or not for the purpose of training medical students (doctors & Pharmacists)	Individual hospital website
DIST	Distance	Distance of the teaching hospital from the capital city. 1 if and 0 if	Individual hospital website
POP	Population size	Total population of districts in the hospital’s catchment area.: 1 if and 0 if	Uganda National Population and Housing Census 2014 (calculated)