Bed management system and inpatient bed availability in a public medical complex in Saudi Arabia: a comparative retrospectively study

Background: This study aims to investigate whether initiating a cross-hospital bed management system makes a difference in the number of admissions and bed occupancy rates at a selected hospital and how, if at all, the average length of stay is reduced in specific hospital departments. Methods: The study included all sequentially hospitalized patients between June 1, 2016, and June 30, 2019. Results: The total number of patients who were admitted to a referred medical complex between June 2016 and July 2019 was 20,749. The inpatient days after the initiative show a statistically significant increase compared to inpatient days before the initiative (137,630 vs. 72,930 days, respectively). Additionally, bed occupancy rates (BOR) after the initiative had a significant increase compared to BOR beforehand (50.5% vs. 26.6%, respectively). Following the bed management program, bed turnover rates (BTR) had doubled relative to BTR before (27.7% vs. 13.8%, respectively). Inpatients were more likely to be admitted in medical wards for treatment (n = 11,976, 57.8%). The most common reasons for admissions to the medical wards of a referred medical complex were internal medicine diseases (n = 6,472), followed by diseases of the cardiovascular system (n = 3,096). However, comparing the average length of stay before and after the initiative found no difference. Conclusion: This study's findings suggest that the number of patients admitted to the hospital were far greater after the bed management initiative began than before it was implemented. Additionally, the increase in BOR and BTR was significant after the initiative was implemented. In contrast, even though the overall length of stay has not changed significantly since the bed management initiative began, when departments are considered separately, a statistically significant reduction in length of stay was only seen in surgical wards since the initiative began. [SJEMed 2022; 3(2.000): 113-119]