The role of nursing care continuity report in predicting length of hospital stay in older people: A retrospective cohort study

Background: The Nursing Care Continuity Report (NCCR) is a tool for evaluating the quality of nursing care during hospital admission.Aim: To explore the role of the NCCR in predicting longer length of stay (LOS) in older adults (>= 65 years) admitted to a tertiary hospital and determine possible clinical differences at discharge between patients who had a short LOS (<= 7 days) and a prolonged LOS (>7 days).Research Design and SettingA retrospective cohort study was conducted including all patients with a completed NCCR admitted to the hospital between 2015 and 2019. Sociodemographic data, risk of pressure injuries, level of dependence, presence and intensity of pain, and presence and type of pressure injury were the variables registered in the NCCR.Results: A total of 41,354 patients were included in this study, with a mean age of 78 years, of whom 47% were female. At admission, 21% of patients were at potential risk of developing pressure ulcers. Age, admission to the internal or respiratory medicine unit, and having at least medium risk of developing pressure ulcers were the predictors of prolonged LOS using a random sample of 950 patients. At discharge, patients with prolonged LOS presented higher risk of pressure ulcers and a higher level of dependency and were more likely to present hospital-acquired pressure ulcers.Conclusions: Older adults from the internal or respiratory medicine unit who exhibited higher risk of pressure ulcers were related to a prolonged LOS, a higher level of dependency, and hospital-acquired ulcers at hospital discharge.Relevance to Clinical Practice: Identifying clinical data that have a greater relationship with LOS could be a useful tool for nursing management and for the implementation of strategies to prevent adverse events during hospitalisation.No Patient or Public Contribution: No direct patient contact was made during the data collection.