BACKGROUND There is an increase in admission rate for elderly patients to the ICU. Mortality rates are lower when more liberal ICU admission threshold are compared to more restrictive threshold. We sought to describe the temporal trends in elderly admissions and outcomes in a tertiary hospital before and after the addition of an 8-bed medical ICU. METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis...

BACKGROUND In this study, we primarily investigated whether ICU admission or ICU stay at weekends (Saturday and Sunday) is associated with a different risk of ICU mortality or chance of ICU discharge than ICU admission or ICU stay on weekdays (Monday to Friday). Secondarily, we analysed whether weekend ICU admission or ICU stay influences risk of hospital mortality or chance of hospital dischar...

INTRODUCTION Urinary tract infections remain one of the most frequently encountered acquired complications in an intensive care unit (ICU). The objective of this study was to determine the incidence, risk factors, microbial sensitivity patterns, and clinical outcomes of patients with UTIs acquired during their admission to an ICU in an acute care hospital in Singapore. MATERIALS AND METHODS T...

BACKGROUND Decreasing the ICU length of stay (LOS) after cardiac operations may increase ICU recidivism, obviating the benefit of early discharge. METHODS From January 1, 1994 to January 1, 1998, there were 2,388 consecutive cardiac operations, from which 2,228 patients were discharged alive from the ICU and had sufficient information to determine their incidence of ICU return, the reasons fo...

OBJECTIVE To develop a predictive equation that estimates the probability of life-supporting therapy among ICU monitor admissions and to explore its potential for reducing cost and improving ICU utilization. DESIGN Prospective inception cohort analysis. PARTICIPANTS Forty-two ICUs in 40 US hospitals with more than 200 beds and a consecutive sample of 17,440 ICU admissions. INTERVENTIONS A...

BACKGROUND The mortality rate after discharge from the intensive care unit (ICU) (so called post-ICU mortality) has remained high (8.6-23.6%) during the past 15 years. The object of this study was to examine the effects of the severity of illness at ICU discharge assessed using the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) on the post-ICU mortality rate. METHODS A 6-month prospe...

OBJECTIVES To employ automated bed data to examine whether ICU occupancy influences ICU admission decisions and patient outcomes. DESIGN Retrospective study using an instrumental variable to remove biases from unobserved differences in illness severity for patients admitted to ICU. SETTING Fifteen hospitals in an integrated healthcare delivery system in California. PATIENTS Seventy thousa...

BACKGROUND Improvement of appropriate bed use and access to intensive care (ICU) beds is essential in optimizing utilization of ICU capacity. The introduction of an intermediate care unit (IMC) integrated in the ICU care may improve this utilization. METHOD In a before-after prospective intervention study in a university hospital mixed ICU, the impact of introducing a six-bed mixed IMC unit s...