Final answer:
The hospital daily inpatient census (DIPC) for March 2nd at Western Hospital's Intensive Care Unit is 370 patients. This is calculated by taking the previous day's census and adjusting it for admissions and discharges, without being affected by the same-day admissions and discharges.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question is asking us to calculate the hospital daily inpatient census (DIPC) for March 2nd at Western Hospital's Intensive Care Unit. To find the DIPC for March 2nd, we use the census from March 1st and adjust it based on the number of admissions and discharges that occurred on March 2nd.
First, we start with the census from March 1st, which is 321 patients. On March 2nd, there were 73 admissions, so we add those to the previous day's census. However, we also need to account for the number of discharges, which were 24. There's an additional note mentioning that there were 3 admissions and discharges. This means 3 patients were both admitted and discharged on the same day, so this number does not affect the census.
The formula: DIPC for March 2nd = Previous Day's Census + Admissions - Discharges
Using the formula: 321 (March 1st census) + 73 (admissions) - 24 (discharges) = 370
The DIPC for Western Hospital's Intensive Care Unit on March 2nd is therefore 370 patients.