The profile of long-term care patients in Al-Khobar and Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Objectives. To find out the profile of patients who stay more than 20 days in hospital in Al-Khobar and Al-Dammam. Methods. A cross sectional descriptive study was designed using a questionnaire completed by health care providers (physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, and social workers) of a random sample of 159 patients out of 318 patients identified as having stayed in the hospital for more than 20 days. Results. The mean length of stay of the patients were 358.6 ±776 days in government hospitals, and 1014.4 ±1018.3 days in private hospitals. Patients were seen as stable by their doctors, 66.7% in government hospitals and 93.9% in private hospitals (statistically significant different at p Conclusions. Long-term patients tended to stay longer in private hospitals than in government hospitals, had diseases related to the nervous and endocrine systems and nutritional metabolism, were in stable condition with no active problems, and could thus, be managed at home.