The Situation of Patients Who cannot Care for Themselves, are Abandoned, and cannot be Discharged

Introduction: Patients who receive treatment in hospital, cannot take care of themselves and are unattended cannot be discharged at the planned time. These patients stay in the hospital until they are placed in the necessary institutions and organizations. As a result, bed occupation, the patient's extra stay in the hospital environment and additional cost problems arise. As a result, it is aimed to create awareness of this problem. Methods: Patients who applied to the 3rd level university hospital between 2019-2022, who couldn’t provide their own care and didn’t have relatives to take care of them, were examined. The patients' age, gender, reason for not being discharged, which clinic they were in, the number of days they stayed in the hospital and hospital costs were analyzed. Data were obtained from the Social Services Unit and the Billing Unit. Results: A total of 25 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 72.04±12.52 (min:37, max:88) years. The median length of stay was determined as 21 (13.5-37.5) days. Of the patients included in the study, 17 (68%) were male and 8 (32%) were female. The mean cost of extra days the patients stayed was 62,059 ± 101,093.79 Turkish Liras, and the total cost was determined as 1,551,492.92 Turkish Liras. When the clinics where the patients were located were examined, most common were Cardiology and General Medicine clinics with 5 (20%) and 4 (16%), respectively. Conclusion: As a result, according to the data we obtained and evaluated during our study, it was seen that patients who need self-care and cannot be discharged cause additional costs in terms of hospital resources, patients waiting for a bed are victimized as a result of bed occupation, and patients are exposed to the hospital environment for a long time.