ABSTRACT
            Prolonged length of hospital stay may result in patients’ complications, a low rate of bed utilization, and high cost to both patients and the hospital. The aim of this descriptive correlational study was to determine whether the selected variables (age, functional ability, severity of illness, serum albumin level, acute confusional state, and the number of medications used) can mutually predict the length of hospital stay of older medical patients. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a sample, which consisted of 211 patients aged 60 years and older who were admitted in medical units in Ramathibodi Hospital, Thailand, during May to August 2005. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman rank order correlation, and multiple regression with the Enter method.
            The analysis revealed that the length of hospital stay ranged from 2 to 64 days with a mean of 10 days. Functional ability at admission and serum albumin level were significantly negatively correlated with length of hospital stay, whereas acute confusional state was significantly positively correlated with length of hospital stay. All variables could jointly explain 15% of the variance in length of hospital stay. Functional ability at admission emerged as the strongest predictor followed by acute confusional state.
            The results suggest that to shorten the length of hospital stay of older medical patients, improvement of nutritional status before hospitalization, early ambulation to improve functional ability of older patients, and prevention of acute confusional state during hospitalization should be promoted.