Prolonged Length of Stay as a Contributor to Burnout, Interprofessional Conflict and System Fatigue: A Qualitative Study of Inpatient Team Perspectives

Abstract

Prolonged lengths of stay (PLOS) impact patient outcomes, healthcare spending, and bed availability. Many patients stay beyond medical necessity due to complex barriers to discharge, including conservatorship applications and insurance coverage, shifting the provision of care from acute to chronic on medicine wards. We aim to understand the impact of this shift on healthcare staff workflow, interactions, and wellbeing through 23 key informant interviews analyzed using grounded theory. Our findings highlight PLOS as a contributor to burnout, with implications for patient care and staff job satisfaction that necessitate additional support for caring for this vulnerable patient population.

Keywords:

• Burnout
• interprofessional conflict
• qualitative study
• barriers to discharge
• prolonged lengths of stay

Acknowledgments

This publication was made possible by the Richard K. Gershon Endowed Medical Student Research Fellowship. We would also like to thank all participants for their time.

Disclosure Statement

RF reports financial interest in QuantumLabs and Highgate Consulting.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Data Availability Statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.