Influencing factors for delayed discharge following day surgery: A retrospective case-control study.

Abstract

We aimed to identify the risk factors for delayed discharge in a day surgery centre in west China. Delayed discharge affected by various factors is a key indicator for healthcare quality of day surgery. However, few studies have focused on this issue in developing countries where the day surgery started much later. A retrospective case-control design. A random sample of 169 delayed discharge cases and 514 normal discharge cases was randomly selected from 38,021 day surgery cases from May 2011 to May 2019 in a tertiary teaching hospital in west China. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of patients were collected through the hospital electronic database and a chart review. A multivariate logistic regression was conducted to identify the risk factors for delayed discharge. The urban employee basic medical insurance, comorbidity, general anaesthesia, pain, fever, bleeding and metabolic disorder were identified as the risk factors for delayed discharge. Living in the city where the hospital located was a protective factor for delayed discharge. Post-operative complications including fever, pain, bleeding and metabolic disorder were the most important risk factors for delayed discharge. The pre-operative prevention, careful monitoring and rapid reactions to post-operative complications may reduce delayed discharge.