A power law distribution in patients’ lengths of stay in hospital

The distribution of patients’ lengths of stay in English hospitals is measured by using routinely collected data from 11 years. It is found to be well approximated by a power law distribution spanning over more than three decades. To explain this observation, a theoretical resource allocation model...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Physica A Vol. 379; no. 1; pp. 235 - 240
Main Authors:	Hellervik, A., Rodgers, G.J.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier B.V 01-06-2007
Subjects:	Health care Power law distributions Preferential attachment Rate equation Resource competition Health care Preferential attachment Resource competition Power law distributions Rate equation
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	The distribution of patients’ lengths of stay in English hospitals is measured by using routinely collected data from 11 years. It is found to be well approximated by a power law distribution spanning over more than three decades. To explain this observation, a theoretical resource allocation model is presented. It is based on iterative long-term scheduling of hospital beds, and its main assumption is that future beds are allocated preferentially. This represents a situation where different parts of the health care system compete for resources, with bargaining powers proportional to current resource levels.
ISSN:	0378-4371 1873-2119
DOI:	10.1016/j.physa.2006.12.045