Dear and McLain have shown clearly how the establishment of an intermediate care ward reduced the admission rate to their neonatal unit.' Although such a ward may be useful in some hospitals, a similar admission rate has been achieved at this hospital by different means. In 1979 the admission rate to the neonatal unit was 15-7%. Seven years later it had fallen to 5-2% of babies delivered at the...

The question of admission and non-admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) raises several ethical questions. There is a fine line between the risk of loss-of-opportunity for the patient in case of non-admission, and the risk of unreasonable therapeutic obstinacy, in case of unjustified admission. Similar difficulties arise in decisions regarding re-admission or non-re-admission, with the sole...

Background & aim:  High-risk pregnancies increase the risk of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admission in mothers and their newborns. In this study, we aimed to identify the association between the recurrence of high-risk pregnancy and mothers’ previous experience of having an infant admitted to NICU. Methods:We performed a cohort, retrospective study to compa...

OBJECTIVE To examine the reliability of the SF-36 general health questionnaire when used to evaluate the health status of critically ill patients before admission to intensive care and to measure their health-related quality of life prior to admission and its relation to severity of illness and length of stay in the intensive care unit. METHODS Prospective cohort study conducted in the intens...