Organisation and Management of Information between Surgical Capacity and Hospital Bed Occupancy

The study examines the organization and management of information regarding surgical capacity and inpatient bed occupancy in German hospitals. The study is conducted at two German hospital sites, using 480,000 anonymized and standardized patient data from 2012 to July 2024, as well as 190,000 surgical data from 2013 to July 2024. The analysis focuses on the factors in- fluencing elective and emergency surgeries, their effects on length of stay, and their distribution across weekdays. Using quantitative methods, including descriptive statistics and the Pearson correlation coefficient, significant anomalies could be identified. Surgeries from elective admis- sions are intensely concentrated on Tuesday and Wednesday, while surgeries from emergency ad- missions increase on weekends. In addition, there are significant correlations between operation duration and inpatient length of stay (r = 0.516) and between preoperative length of stay and total length of stay (r = 0.477). The study provides a valuable contribution to evidence-based resource management in the inpatient sector and highlights the relevance of efficient OR planning for ca- pacity management. The study shows that optimising the information and communication process, through targeted management of surgical capacity in coordination with structural and personnel resources, not only improves the quality of care but also optimizes hospital utilisation.