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| Title: | A power law distribution in patients' lengths of stay in hospital |
| Authors: | Hellervik, A
Rodgers, G J |
| Keywords: | Health Care
Power law distributions
Preferential attachment
Resource competition
Rate equation |
| Publication Date: | 2006 |
| Publisher: | Elsevier |
| Citation: | Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 379: 235-240, Jul 2006 |
| Abstract: | The distribution of patients' lengths of stay in English hospitals is measured by using routinely
collected data from 11 years. It is found to be well approximated by a power law distribution
spanning over more than 3 decades. To explain this observation, a theoretical resource allocation
model is presented. It is based on iterative long-term scheduling of hospital beds, and its main
assumption is that future beds are allocated preferentially. This represents a situation where
di®erent parts of the health care system compete for resources, with bargaining powers proportional
to current resource levels. |
| URI: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03784371
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/551 |
| Appears in Collections: | Mathematics
School of Information Systems, Computing and Mathematics Research Papers
Mathematical Physics
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