The length of stay and cost of burn patients and the affecting factors.

Abstract

Background: Burn trauma is a significant health problem that has physical, psychological, and economic reaction on affected patients. Burn patients have different length-of-stay (LOS) due to the complexity of the injury itself. This study aimed to find factors affecting the LOS and cost of burn patients (2017-2018) in Guilan province, north of Iran.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study includes all 899 hospitalized burn patients who were admitted for the first time (first visit). Data about cost, LOS, and demographic variables were extracted from the hospital registry system. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and Linear regression by SPSS 22 software.

Results: Nearly 62% of the burn patients were male, and 38% were female. Hot liquid or vapor were the leading causes for burns hospitalization (n = 345; 39.07%). The majority of patients (n = 465; 52.31%) were at level three of burn (total thickness). The upper limb that included head, neck, shoulder, back, hand (45.44%), lower limb (38.25%), multiple or total body (11.36%) were the most organs that were affected by burning. Direct medical costs for patients varied from 0 to 18,550 US$, which was 1489 US$ on average. Patients' length of stay ranged from 1 to 47 days, which was 3.22 days on average.

Conclusion: The result showed Adverse consequences burned hot liquid and hot steam burns most common reason that it is important to take preventative methods for this type of patient. Improved patients with the third level cost more and stay longer. Other factors such as underlying disease, urbanity, used antibiotics, sex, and insurance coverage can also be decisive. The burnt percentage also has a direct and significant relationship with medical costs and length of stay. Insurance organization has a direct and significant relationship with the length of stay. Also there was a direct relationship between multiple burns and the patients' length of stay and hospitalization costs.