Correlation between the Quality of Nursing Care and the Length of Hospital Stay in NICUs

Introduction: Length of stay (LOS) is the most important and practical indicator in hospitals, which is largely reflect the level of hospitals performance and activity and it is important indicator for planning of the resource. On the other hand the quality of care can be related to LOS theoretically. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between LOS and quality of nursing care in NICU.Method: In this descriptive correlational study the samples were 205 premature infants that hospitalized in NICU of selected hospital of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, were selected using of NCSS PASS software based on inclusion criteria, and also 80 nurses were selected that all of them working in selected hospitals. The data gathered using demographics of nurses and neonates and also QUALPAC questionnaire. Data analyzed via SPSS version 21 and Spearman coefficient was calculated.Results: The results showed that 47.5% of nurses were 29-36 years old and 68.8 of nurses have 1-5 years’ working experience. There was an inverse and significant correlation between neonate's length of stay and quality of care (r=-0.507 P