Calculating & Reporting Healthcare Statistics Second Edition Chapter 3 Patient Census Data

Inpatient Census Indicates the number of patients present in the healthcare facility at a particular point in time The inpatient census-taking time is usually at midnight (12 a.m.) but may occur at any time as long as the time is adhered to consistently for the entire facility Each PCU also reports the number of patients admitted, discharged, and/or transferred in or out that day Transfer, in a hospital setting, refers to an intra-hospital transfer Patients who are moved from one PCU to another within the facility ©2006 All rights reserved.

Daily Inpatient Census Includes the number of inpatients present on the PCU at the census-taking time each day and any inpatients who were both admitted after the previous census-taking time and discharged before the next census-taking time ©2006 All rights reserved.

Inpatient Service Days A unit of measure denoting the services received by one inpatient in one 24-hour period. The 24-hour period is the time between the census-taking hours on two successive days One inpatient service day is counted for each inpatient admission when a patient is admitted and discharged the same day ©2006 All rights reserved.

Inpatient Service Days One unit of one service day is not usually divided or reported as a fraction of a day The day of admission is counted as an inpatient service day, but the day of discharge is not The days a patient does not occupy a bed due to leave of absence are excluded because he or she is not present at the census-taking hour Adults and children are calculated separately ©2006 All rights reserved.

Inpatient Service Days Other names Patient day Inpatient day Bed occupancy day Census day ©2006 All rights reserved.

Total Inpatient Service Days Sum of all the inpatient service days in the period under consideration ©2006 All rights reserved.

Calculation of Inpatient Service Days The measurement of services received by all inpatients in one 24-hour period The time between the census-taking hours on two successive days ©2006 All rights reserved.

Transfers Refer to intra-facility Transfers in and out of any specific medical care unit may or may not be equal But they must be equal for the overall hospital capitulation Every patient transferred into a unit on any given day has to have been transferred out of another unit ©2006 All rights reserved.

Patients Admitted and Discharged on the Same Day May be referred to as in and out (I&O) Admission/discharge (A&D) ©2006 All rights reserved.

Recapitulation of Census Data The process of verifying the data The total number of patients admitted and born during the month or year is added to the patients-remaining census with which the month or year began From this sum, the number of discharges (including deaths) during the month or year (including deaths) is subtracted The resulting data are the number of patients remaining at the end of the month or year This should equal the actual head count at midnight of the last night of that month or year ©2006 All rights reserved.

Average Daily Census The average number of inpatients present each day for a given period of time ©2006 All rights reserved.

Average Daily Census Formula Total inpatient service days for a period (excluding newborns) / Total number of days in the period ©2006 All rights reserved.

Average Daily Newborn Census Formula Total newborn inpatient service days for a period / Total number of days in the period ©2006 All rights reserved.

Average Daily Census for a Care Unit Formula Total inpatient service days for the unit for the period / Total number of days in the period ©2006 All rights reserved.

Leap years and Non Leap Years A year in which an extra day is added to the calendar in order to harmonize with the seasons It takes the Earth 365.2422 days to complete its course around the Sun A leap year must be added roughly once every four years In a leap year, the extra day is called a leap day and it is added to the end of February giving the month 29 days ©2006 All rights reserved.