The length of hospitalization for pediatric asthma patients varies widely between institutions and individual patients. We studied the patient characteristics, local clinical practices, and means of patient monitoring associated with variations in length of stay (LOS). A retrospective chart review of pediatric patients admitted for asthma between January and June of 1994 was undertaken to examine the issues affecting LOS.

The average LOS for the entire population (N=88) was 76.9 +/- 33.9 hours. There was no significant difference in LOS amongst the various subsets of the population (demographics, history of previous disease, clinical severity on admission, and frequency of monitoring while in the hospital). Patients were found, however, to remain in the hospital up to 8.8 days (mean=2.6) after they attained a peak flow of at least 70% of their predicted value or an O2 saturation of 95%, both parameters suggestive of readiness for discharge.

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