• Topic
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Acute care

Acute care kathschach

Acute care for inpatients in hospital refers to necessary treatment for a disease or severe episode of illness provided for a short period of time. CIHI provides valuable insight on the quality of care, patient experiences, cost, volumes and types of acute care cases admitted to Canadian hospitals. CIHI also facilitates the collection of standardized information on acute care through databases such as the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) and the Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB). 

Explore information on acute care. Browse indicators, data tables, reports and other key resources. For information on emergency department and ambulatory care, go to our Emergency and ambulatory care topic page.

Featured material

Frailty among hospitalized seniors

  • Release summary
  • November 30, 2023
Explore information and data related to the CIHI Hospital Frailty Risk Measure, an acute care contextual measure developed to characterize the risk of frailty among seniors.

Indicators

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Reports and releases

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Acute care: Reports and releases

Acute care: Reports and releases kathschach

This page lists acute care reports, stories, infographics and release summaries.

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Hospital Harm Project

  • Project
  • Published
Learn more about a patient safety measure of potentially preventable hospital harm in Canada, and how it is linked to evidence-informed practices.

Patient harm in Canadian hospitals? It does happen.

  • Infographic
  • Published
This infographic describes the Hospital Harm indicator, which captures occurrences of unintended harm during a hospital stay that could have been potentially prevented.

Access to palliative care in Canada

  • Release summary
  • Published
Access to palliative care has improved in Canada, but gaps remain. Read CIHI's latest report to see the status of palliative care in the home, and in community and hospital settings.

Access to Palliative Care in Canada, 2023 (PDF)

  • Report
  • Published
​​Access to palliative care has improved in Canada, but gaps remain. Read CIHI’s latest report on the status of palliative care in the home, and in community and hospital settings.

Hospital stays in Canada, 2021–2022

  • Release summary
  • Published
​Explore the most recent information on inpatient hospitalization, surgery and newborn statistics, including the top reasons for hospital stays and surgeries.

Overuse of tests and treatments in Canada

  • Release summary
  • Published
​Expanding on our 2017 report, this follow-up from CIHI and Choosing Wisely Canada examines progress on overuse of 12 tests and treatments and provides insights for continued improvements.

Acute care: Data tables

Acute care: Data tables kathschach

This page lists data tables that provide information about acute care.

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Hospital Harm Results, 2014–2015 to 2022–2023 (XLSX)

  • Data tables
  • Published
​The Hospital Harm indicator captures occurrences of unintended harm during a hospital stay that could have been potentially prevented by implementing known best practices. The indicator includes 31 clinical groups that fall under 4 categories of harm:…

Acute care: Indicators

Acute care: Indicators kathschach

This page lists CIHI’s indicators on acute care.

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Caesarean Section Rate

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator measures the crude rate of all Caesarean sections (C-sections) per 100 deliveries. Lower rates are desirable.

Repeat Hospital Stays for Mental Health and Substance Use

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator measures the risk-adjusted percentage of individuals who had 3 or more episodes of care for mental health and substance use (MHSU) disorders among all those who had at least one episode of care for MHSU disorders in general or psychiatric…

Joint Replacement Wait Times

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator provides the percentage of patients in a province who received planned total joint replacements within 26 weeks (182 days) from the date they were ready to be treated.

CIHI Hospital Frailty Risk Measure (HFRM)

  • Indicator
  • Published
This is an acute care contextual measure developed to characterize the risk of frailty among seniors in hospitals across Canada.

Cost of a Standard Hospital Stay

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator gives the ratio of a hospital’s total acute inpatient expenses to the number of acute inpatient cases adjusted for resource use (RIW).

Overall Hospital Experience

  • Indicator
  • Published
​This measure describes a patient’s overall experience during a hospital stay. Results show the percentage of patients who responded most favourably in the CPES-IC survey.

Involvement in Decision-Making and Treatment Options

  • Indicator
  • Published
​This measure describes whether patients and family/friends were involved in care decisions. Results show the percentage of patients who responded most favourably in the CPES-IC survey.

Communication With Nurses

  • Indicator
  • Published
​This measure describes whether nurses communicated well with patients. Results show the percentage of patients who responded most favourably in the CPES-IC survey.

Acute care: Tools

Acute care: Tools kathschach

This page lists CIHI’s performance reporting tools that contain acute care data.

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Acute care: Data holdings

Acute care: Data holdings kathschach

This page contains information about CIHI’s data holdings related to acute care.

Discharge Abstract Database

The Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) contains demographic, administrative and clinical data on inpatient hospital discharges. Facilities in all provinces and territories except Quebec are required to report to the DAD. Quebec acute inpatient records are submitted to CIHI through a different process and are included in the Hospital Morbidity Database.

Hospital Morbidity Database

The Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB) is a national data holding that captures administrative, clinical and demographic information on hospital inpatient events. It contains inpatient data collected via the DAD and inpatient records submitted from Quebec. Please note that Quebec day surgery records are part of the HMDB population as of 2012–2013.

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Comprehensive Ambulatory Classification System (CACS)

  • Metadata
  • Published
A national grouping methodology for ambulatory care patient data submitted to either the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) or National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS).

Acute care: News and podcasts

Acute care: News and podcasts kathschach

This page contains media releases, bulletins and podcast episodes about acute care.

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Unintended harms: How CIHI is helping Canadians receive safer care

  • Bulletin
  • Published
Health systems across the country continuously strive to make Canadian health care safer. Learn how we help these efforts through an interview with Yana Gurevich, manager of Health Indicators and Client Support, and Mélanie Josée Davidson, director of…

Acute care: Education resources

Acute care: Education resources kathschach

Through our Learning Centre, CIHI provides opportunities for health professionals to understand our evolving reporting systems and the application of our standards, data and analytics. We offer many courses and resources for a variety of audiences, including clinicians, assessors, data submitters and analysts, decision-makers, policy planners and researchers.

Courses and resources are available in a variety of formats, including eLearning modules, PDF and page-based documents, live and recorded web conferences, and videos.

On this page:

 

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Browse our catalogues

With 300 learning products in a variety of areas, we’re sure to have something that meets your needs — and our online courses will always fit your schedule.

Visit the Education page 

Other education resources

Resources offered through CIHI include the following:

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Mapping COVID-19 Codes: ICD-10-CA to WHO’s Base ICD-10

  • Job aid
  • Published
​This job aid provides information about mapping codes in version 2022 ICD-10-CA to codes in version 2019 of the World Health Organization’s base ICD-10, plus code titles for COVID-19.

Canadian MIS Database (CMDB) User Guide (PDF)

  • User guide
  • Published
​The CMDB User Guide provides information on the composition, processing and use of data from the Canadian Management Information System (MIS) Database (CMDB).

Population Grouping Methodology in Action (PDF)

  • Information sheet
  • Published
​​This information sheet highlights the main applications of CIHI’s population grouping methodology using chronic health conditions as an example.