Length of stay

How it is used

Almost always shortened to LOS, and ALOS for average length of stay. Managers aim to reduce length of stay safely, compare it by specialty and with other hospitals, and look closely at patients with an unusually long stay.

Example sentences

1. Our average length of stay for hip replacements has fallen from six days to four.

2. A shorter length of stay is only good news if readmissions do not go up.

Common collocations

• average length of stay
• reduce length of stay
• length of stay data
• extended length of stay

Related terms

• admissionThe process of formally accepting a patient into hospital so that they can stay for treatment, or one single case of this.
• dischargeThe point when a patient officially leaves hospital care, usually to go home, after the team decides they no longer need to stay.
• bed occupancy rateThe percentage of a hospital's available beds that are filled by patients over a given period, used to judge how busy the hospital is.
• readmissionA patient's return to hospital as an inpatient soon after discharge, often within 30 days, which may point to problems with care or with the discharge.
• KPIShort for key performance indicator: a measurable value, such as waiting time or infection rate, that shows how well a hospital or team is meeting its goals.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• length of stay · Tourism & Hospitality

More terms: Patient Flow and Capacity

• patient flow
• referral
• waiting list
• waiting time
• triage
• capacity
• bed management
• discharge planning
• bottleneck
• elective