Admission to Hospital From Emergency Departments: Emergency Department Stay Length at the 90th Percentile

Identifying Attributes

Care Settings
Care Transitions
Country
Australia
Publishing Organisation
National Partnership Agreement on Improving Public Hospital Services
Type of Quality Indicator
Process
IOM Quality Dimension
Timeliness
Domain
Access / Waiting Times

Defining Attributes

Definition

The emergency department stay length at the 90th percentile (in hours and minutes) for all patients presenting to a public hospital emergency department (including publicly funded privately operated hospitals) who are subsequently admitted to the same hospital.

Numerator

Emergency department stay length at the 90th percentile for emergency department presentations that are admitted to hospital (either short stay unit, hospital-in-the-home or non-emergency department hospital ward). Calculated by subtracting the date and time patient presents from the emergency department physical departure date and time.

Denominator

This is a continuous variable measure. The target population is patients presenting to emergency department who are admitted to hospital (inferred).

Exclusions
Use of Risk Adjustment
No
Risk Adjustments
Stratifications

Data Attributes

Type of Data Collection
Administrative data
Data Collection Methods

National Emergency Access Target data. Data are consistent with data definitions in the Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS 2012–13.

Frequency of Data Collection
Quarterly
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
91
Reporting Methods

Report on Government Services and on the AIHW website.

Reporting Frequency
Annually
Reporting Frequency in Days
365
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
No

Source and Reference Attributes

Technical Specifications
Link to Measurement Tools
Quality Indicator Confirmed to be Part of a Program Used to Monitor Quality and Safety of Care Among Older People at a Population-Level between 2012-2022
Yes
Assessed by the Australian Consortium for Aged Care Collaborators as Generally Containing Good Properties (Importance and Scientific Acceptability)
No
Australian Consortium for Aged Care Endorsed
No
Identified by PHARMA-Care Project
No
Upload Date
12 March 2025