Characteristics of patients discharged from study wards
| Characteristic | Intervention wards (N=5805) | Control ward (N=1887) |
| Service, n (%) | General internal medicine 4781 (82.4) Cardiology 1024 (17.6) | Gastroenterology 1309 (69.4) Surgery 424 (22.4) Other 154 (8.2) |
| Mean age, year (SD) | 67.0 (19.9) | 50.9 (19.4)* |
| Female, n (%) | 3029 (52.2) | 1026 (54.4) |
| Median length of stay, days (IQR) | 5.0 (3.0–8.0) | 4.0 (2.0–9.0)* |
*P<0.05.