Relationship between pediatric intensive care unit length of stay and 24-h unplanned readmission rate.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) severity-adjusted length of stay (LOS) and 24-h unplanned readmission rate.

Data Source: Data were obtained from a 10-year cohort from 2009 to 2018 from the Virtual Pediatric Systems (VPS, LLC) database.

Study Design: In this retrospective study, standardized LOS ratio was computed for each PICU as the ratio of the sum of actual LOS divided by the predicted LOS for each PICU using VPS predictive LOS model. Correlation between standardized LOS ratios and 24-h unplanned readmission rates were computed using Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Principal Findings: There was practically no relationship between standardized LOS ratio and 24-h readmission rate (R  = 0.05).

Data Collection/extraction Methods: Not Applicable.

Conclusions: Severity-adjusted LOS has no relationship with 24-h unplanned readmission rate. These findings suggest that the relationship between PICU severity-adjusted LOS and 24-h unplanned readmission rate should not be used as a balancing quality measure.