Five-Year Trend Analysis of Capacity Utilization Measures in a Teaching Hospital 2008-2012

Background: Evaluation of hospitals performance determines what hospitals really do, and define deficiencies with regard to the original standards and identify opportunities for improvement. Objectives: We investigated trends in the performance of a hospital with capacity utilization measures used in Pabon Lasso (PL) model. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study from March 2008 to March 2012, we retrieved all performance data from the Hospital Information System of Shahid Faghihi Hospital, a public teaching hospital in Shiraz, Iran. Measurements included changes in the trend of three indices: bed turnover, bed occupancy rate, and average length of stay. Results: The trends in hospital performance showed a decrease in mean (median) hospital stay from 6.77 (± 3.11) days in 2008 to 4.25 (± 2.70) days in 2012. In 2008, bed turnover was 50.03 times/year, bed occupancy rate was 92.9% and turnover interval was 0.51 days. In 2012, these indices were 60.8 times/year, 70.9%, and 1.74 days, respectively. These measures in PL model showed that Shahid Faghihi Hospital was located in zone 4 during 2008-2009, zone 1 during 2010-2011, and zone 3 during 2012, indicating an acceptable degree of efficiency and an optimal level of performance. Conclusions: This hospital showed relative improvements in all capacity utilization measures in 2012. Future efforts should examine new interventions to further increase the hospital’s performance capacity.