BACKGROUND Accurate cost estimate and a profit and loss analysis are necessary for health care practice. We performed an actual financial analysis for an intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital in Japan, and tried to discuss the health care policy and resource allocation decisions that have an impact on critical intensive care. METHODS The costs were estimated by a department level...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether a lack of intensive care unit beds was leading to premature patient discharge from the intensive care unit and subsequent early readmission or death. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING A single Canadian tertiary care teaching hospital. PATIENTS All intensive care unit admissions between January 1, 1989 and December 31, 1996 were collected prospectively...

The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases throughout the world is an undeniable phenomenon; 395,000 deaths occurred in Iran in 2014 and about 76% of them were related to chronic diseases. 1 Cancer is one of the chronic diseases that are progressing rapidly. In Iran, cancer is known as the third cause of death. Adult morbidity rate of cancer in different regions of Iran is estimated 48-112 c...

A TRACHEOSTOMY IS COMmonly performed when clinicians predict a patient will need prolonged mechanical ventilation. The use of this procedure has increased, especially following the introduction of a practical bedside percutaneous tracheostomy technique in 1985, such that up to onethird of patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation now receive a tracheostomy. The perceived advantages of...

Methods The study was performed in a hospital specialized in care of chronic patients with high dependency, in special elderly, advanced-stage cancer patients, dementia, severe neurological deficit and other chronic diseases. It holds 77 beds in three internment units, a semi-intensive care unit and emergency care. Data were collected daily through audit, and as the Brazilian statistics are bei...

To the Editor: The provision of care for nonsurgical patients in the hospital has been largely debated in recent years. We would like to contribute to the discussion concerning the future of hospital medical wards in the context of the demographic challenge to health care systems due to the progressive aging of the population and of the changes induced by technology (both diagnostic and surgica...

OBJECTIVE To characterize resources available for the care of critically ill and injured children in the United States. STUDY DESIGN In January through May 2004, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of medical directors of intensive care facilities for children. RESULTS Pediatric critical care medical directors from 257 of 337 eligible hospitals responded to the survey (response rate: 76%)...

OBJECTIVE To describe perceptions of the administrative procedures for seasonal bed closures and their consequences in the intensive care unit (ICU), and to critique this example of health care priority setting for legitimacy and fairness. DESIGN A qualitative study using case study methods and interviews with key participants. We evaluated fairness and legitimacy of the bed closure process u...

Because geographic variation in medical care utilization is jointly determined by both supply and demand, it is difficult to empirically estimate whether capacity itself has a causal impact on utilization in health care. In this paper, I exploit short-term variation in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) capacity that is unlikely to be correlated with unobserved demand determinants. I find that...

background: echocardiography is one of the diagnostic tools that can be applied at the bedside, along with avoiding transporting critically ill patients. this prospective observational study was designed to assess the clinical applicability of the transthoracic echocardiography (tte) device by noncardiologist intensivists. materials and methods: intensivists performed a limited tte examination ...