In time-sensitive emergencies, it’s easy to see how each passing minute impacts a patient’s outcome, for better or worse. The faster a patient receives treatment, the better chances they have at a good outcome. When you’re performing a time-sensitive intervention for a stroke or trauma patient, you know that every minute matters.
But what happens after the patient is admitted to the hospital? What about the minutes slipping past that aren’t quite as noticeable: the time while a patient recovers, waiting to be discharged?
How does the length of a patient’s stay in the hospital impact their outcome?