Investigation of the rate of patient's escape from a general hospital in Shiraz, Iran

Patients’ escape from hospital imposes lots of costs on the patients as well as the health system. Besides, adverse events are more likely to occur for these patients compared to others. The present study aimed to investigate the rate of patients escape from general hospitals in Shiraz between 2011 and 2012.
This retrospective, descriptive study was conducted in one of the hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. In this study, the data on the escaped patients were collected from the medical records of a general hospital using a checklist in 2011-2012. Then, the data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software (v. 21) and descriptive statistics.
A total of 454 people had escaped from the hospital during the study period. The highest frequency of patient escape was related to the emergency department, males, and married patients. Also, most of the escaped patients had stayed in the hospital for less than a day and hospital franchise was free for 60% of them.
Considering the increase in patients’ escape from hospitals in the recent years, these behaviors should be prevented using appropriate strategies, such as controlling the patients’ entrance and exit, improving the relationship between the patients and the treatment staff, and controlling the patients with an escape history.