BMC Health Services Research

Table 2 Characteristics of hospital separation records with and without a nursing-sensitive outcome (NSO) during 10 years (1999–2009)

From: Evaluation of paediatric nursing-sensitive outcomes in an Australian population using linked administrative hospital data

	Separations without any NSO		Separations with any NSO		pvalue^a
	(n = 127800)		(n = 1919)
	n	%	n	%
Age group					< .001
1-28 days (neonate)	5568	4.4	82	4.3
> 28 days-1 year (infant)	21601	16.9	513	26.7
> 1-3 years (toddler)	23422	18.3	402	21.0
> 3-6 years (pre-school)	14620	11.4	166	8.7
> 6-13 years (school age)	41487	32.5	501	26.1
> 13- ≤ 18 years (adolescent)	21102	16.5	255	13.3
Sex					.037
Male	72792	57.0	1139	59.4
Female	55008	43.0	780	40.7
Socioeconomic index (IRSD)^b					< .001
Least disadvantaged	76584	61.1	1031	56.5
Most disadvantaged	46793	37.9	794	43.5
Residence (ARIA+)^c					< .001
Major city	100147	81.2	1365	74.8
Regional or remote	23189	18.8	460	25.2
Admission type					.006
Emergency	101229	78.2	1470	76.6
Elective	26571	20.8	449	23.4
Case mix					< .001
Non-surgical	106841	83.6	1286	67.0
Surgical	20959	16.4	633	33.0
Major Diagnostic Category^c					< .001
Respiratory	21216	16.6	125	6.5
Gastrointestinal	16256	12.7	337	17.6
Musculoskeletal	15358	12.0	204	10.6
Ear, nose, throat & mouth	13207	10.3	119	6.2
Neurological	10054	7.9	217	11.3
Season					< .001
Autumn	31122	24.4	444	23.1
Winter	34278	26.8	575	30.0
Spring	33955	26.6	526	27.4
Summer	28445	22.3	374	19.5
	Mean (SD)		Mean (SD)
Length of stay (LOS)	4.09 (10.62)		11.34 (23.48)		< .001
Ward movements	0.26 (0.64)		0.67 (1.20)		.002

Note: Test statistic is Pearson Chi-square for categorical data and t-statistic for continuous data.
^a Two sided significance reported.
^b Data missing therefore does not equal total.
^c Only Major Diagnostic Categories with most cases listed.

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ISSN: 1472-6963

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