Risk-Adjusted Prolonged Length of Stay as an Alternative Outcome Measure for Pediatric Congenital Cardiac Surgery [1]
The authors studied outcomes after congenital operations in 12 programs in New York state (4,776 operations) to assess whether prolonged length of stay (PLOS) can be used as a quality measure. PLOS incidence ranged from 7.5% to 36.5.5. PLOS was strongly correlated with mortality rates. The authors conclude that PLOS is a reasonable quality metric, especially in low volume centers.