Census Data Analysis Paper

On a daily basis, department managers track census data on the number of patients admitted, transferred, and discharged (known as throughput). The importance of this data allows the department administrator (Fields, R.) “to determine when you experience the biggest patient load and when that load drops off”. Also, “by tracking your patient census and reviewing it on a daily basis, you can determine which departments are overburdened, which times of year are the busiest and which departments are seeing a declining stream of patients” (2010). Due to the overburden, when the workload may increase, a decision will be made to increase the staff to accommodate the number of full beds and keep the quality of patient care at an all-time high. It also improves patient flow, if a bed goes empty and no one tracks it when the ER gets an admission they won’t know that beds are available, so keeping track of this data is vital. …show more content…
Henceforth, this tracks the length that a patient stays in the hospital for specific ailments or surgeries and gives insight by comparison to The Joint Commission into the care of the patient across hospitals. However, the hospital’s decisions can be made to decrease the length of stay by focusing on the primary duties of caring for the patient that help to regulate