치매환자 특성과 재원일수 결정요인의 병원 종별 비교

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in characteristics of dementia patients and the factors that affect length of stay among three types of hospitals: general, district, and long term care hospitals. Methods: From National Patient Survey database prepared by Korean Institute for Health and Social Affair, discharge summary data of 7,279 dementia patients are extracted and analyzed. Three logistic regression models with binary dependent variables indicating different types of hospital were used to analyze the differences in characteristics of dementia patients among hospitals types. Three linear regression models with length of stay (LOS) as dependant variable were used to determine the factors that affect LOS of the three types of hospitals. Results: The long term care hospitals had the highest level of LOS, mortality rate and disease severity. The severity had a positive effect to LOS in general hospitals and in long term care hospitals. The Medical Aid Program affected positively to LOS in acute care hospitals, but had no significant effects on the long term care hospitals. Conclusions: A mismatch between severity level of disease and hospital types exists in the care of dementia patients. Health policies intending to encourage for dementia patients to use appropriate level of hospitals services have to be established and implemented.