which conclusion can be made from the april patient census report? as the:

Does the patient appear on the census report?

ºAppear on the census report. ºHowever, the patient must be accounted for separately in some manner. ºFor ex, 20 patients are on a particular PCU. ºOne patient was admitted at 10:00 a.m. and discharged at 7:00 p.m.

How is the ending census calculated for a hospital?

This is accomplished by taking the 12:01 a.m. inpatient census at the beginning of the period, adding total admissions and transfers in, and subtracting total discharges and transfers out. The resultant data represent the ending census on the last day of the period (month or year).

How often does your inpatient census exceed acceptable levels?

In a recent survey, 40% of physicians said that more than once a month their typical inpatient census exceeded the level they deemed safe and appropriate; 36.1% said that was true more than once per week.

What information does the average daily census report contain?

The Average Daily Census report contains the following information: ●     Header information: o     Office Number o     Payor o     Patient ID o     Patient Name o     Service Date ●     Report columns — The report breaks the information down using the following to identify the associated information:

Data collection methods

The NQF had endorsed five methods to collect patient day data in connection with NHPPD: 1,2

Are patient day methods biased?

In addition to practical issues that may drive the decision to pick one of the patient day data collection methods, it's important to know if the method itself introduces bias: underestimating or overestimating patient days. One way to investigate this question is to apply all the methods to the same set of patients.

Choosing the right method

The connection of patient days with nursing-sensitive indicators such as NHPPD and patient fall indicators stresses the importance of accurate patient day measurement. Nurse managers should aim to use actual admission and discharge times derived from electronic systems or multiple census approaches to collect patient day data.

REFERENCES

1. The Joint Commission. Implementation Guide for the NQF Endorsed Nursing-Sensitive Care Performance Measures—Appendix F. Oakbrook Terrace, IL: The Joint Commission; 2005.