It\u2019s a scene repeated all too frequently: a patient remains in hospital long after they\u2019ve been successfully treated because there\u2019s nowhere for them to go where they\u2019ll be safe and cared for.<\/p>\n
Quinten Carfagnini wanted to know who undergoes this experience and why.<\/p>\n
Through a collaboration between Brock University\u2019s Goodman School of Business, the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences and Niagara Health, Carfagnini conducted research on the factors keeping non-acute patients in hospital for more than 30 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese patients are done with their care, but they’re stuck in the bed that they’re in, which is obviously unfortunate because those who do require treatment need to be able to get into that bed,\u201d says the Health Sciences PhD student.<\/p>\n
Carfagnini and his team collected information from the Ontario Wait Time Information System (WTIS)<\/a> database on more than 16,000 alternate level of care (ALC) patients who received care in Niagara Health hospitals from September 2014 to September 2019.<\/p>\n ALC patients are defined as<\/a> being those \u201cwho occupy a bed but do not require the intensity of services provided in that care setting.\u201d<\/p>\n Carfagnini and his team\u2019s research, published at the end of March<\/a>, found long-stay ALC patients were more likely to be:<\/p>\n \u201cThe longest wait times were for those trying to be discharged to long-term care facilities, which previous research has shown,\u201d says Carfagnini. \u201cOur study looked at more personalized patient requirements, such as bariatric or psychological needs that they may require at their discharge destination.\u201d<\/p>\n Elaina Orlando, Research Manager at Niagara Health (NH) and Adjunct Professor in Brock\u2019s Department of Health Sciences, says the backlog of ALC patients is a \u201ccomplex problem\u201d involving many stakeholders in health-care systems that are stretched for resources.<\/p>\n \u201cQuinten\u2019s research has given us a different lens on our particular population experiencing this situation,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have this clearer picture of who is in our hospital system and in our beds, and that gives us new ways to think about potential solutions within our control to change as an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor of Epidemiology Brent Faught, Carfagnini\u2019s supervisor, notes how the research follows legislation passed last year by the Ontario government. Bill 7, More Beds, Better Care Act, 2022<\/a> empowers hospitals to transfer ALC patients to a long-term care home that the hospital sources. Patients face a $400 per day fine if they refuse to leave the hospital.<\/p>\n He says the research partnership enables Niagara Health and Brock to come up with local measures that address the province-wide problem of a shortage of hospital beds.<\/p>\n \u201cThis research and partnership give us a stronger voice in terms of what is actually happening within our own community,\u201d says Faught.<\/p>\n\n