Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) Models of Care: Current Practices & Perspectives (original) (raw)
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Intensive Care Units (ICUs) account for over 10 percent of all US hospital beds, have over 4.4 million patient admissions yearly, approximately 360,000 deaths, and account for close to 30% of acute care hospital costs. The need for critical care services has increased due to an aging population and medical advances that extend life. The result is efforts to improve patient outcomes, optimize financial performance, and implement models of ICU care that enhance quality of care and reduce health care costs. This retrospective chart review study examined the dose effect of APN Intensivists in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) on differences in patient outcomes, healthcare charges, SICU length of stay, charges for APN intensivist services, and frequency of APNs special initiatives when the SICU was staffed by differing levels of APN Intensivist staffing over four time periods (T1-T4) between 2009 and 2011. The sample consisted of 816 randomly selected (204 per T1-T4) patient chart data. Study findings indicated reported ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) rates, ventilator days, catheter days and catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) rates increased at T4 (when vii there was the lowest number of APN Intensivists), and there was increased pressure ulcer incidence in first two quarters of T4. There was no statistically significant difference in post-surgical glycemic control (M = 142.84, SD= 40.00), t (223) = 1.40, p = .17, and no statistically significant difference in the SICU length of stay among the time-periods (M= 3.27, SD = 3.32), t (202) = 1.02, p= .31. Charges for APN services increased over the 4 time periods from 11,268atT1to11,268 at T1 to 11,268atT1to51,727 at T4 when a system to capture APN billing was put into place. The number of new APN initiatives declined in T4 as the number of APN Intensivists declined. Study results suggest a dose effect of APN Intensivists on important patient health outcomes and on the number of APNs initiatives to prevent health complications in the SICU.
Annals of Surgical Treatment and Research, 2014
An intensivist is a key factor in the mortality of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an intensivist on clinical outcomes of patients admitted to a surgical ICU. Methods: During the study period, the surgical ICU was converted from an open ICU to an intensivist-directed ICU managed by an intensivist who was board certified in both general surgery and critical care medicine. We compared consecutive patients admitted to the surgical ICU before and after implementing the intensivist-directed care. The primary outcome was ICU mortality, and secondary outcomes were hospital mortality, 90-day mortality, length of hospital stay, ICU-free days, ventilator-free days, and ICU readmission rate. Results: A total of 441 patients were included in this study: 188 before implementation of the intensivist and 253 after implementation. Clinical characteristics were not different between the two groups. ICU mortality decreased from 11.7% to 6.3% (P = 0.047) after implementation, and 90-day mortality also decreased significantly (P = 0.008). The adjusted hazard ratio of the intensivist for ICU mortality was 0.43 (95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.87; P = 0.020). ICU-free days (P = 0.013) and the hospital length of stay (P = 0.032) were significantly improved after implementing the intensivist-directed care. Before implementation period, 16.0% of patients were readmitted, compared with only 9.9% after implementation (P = 0.05). Conclusion: Implementing intensivist-directed care in the surgical ICU was associated with significant improvements in ICU mortality and significant clinical outcomes.
Stuck in the Unit: Three-Year Outcomes Following Prolonged Stay in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit
Surgical Science, 2014
Introduction: Advances in care of the critically ill patient have promoted growth in the number of "chronically critically ill"-patients who survive acute medical crisis only to require weeks of intensive monitoring. This population accounts for a small fraction of admissions yet a disproportionately large fraction of healthcare resources. Despite this allocation, long-term outcomes are poorly understood. The goal of this study is to determine the rate of mortality in the 3 years following prolonged admission to the surgical intensive care unit. Methods: This retrospective study includes patients discharged from a twenty-bed surgical intensive care unit in an 874-bed tertiary care academic hospital. All patients who were at least 18 years old, spent at least 30 consecutive days in the surgical intensive care unit, and were discharged during 2002-2009 were eligible for inclusion in the study. Patients were followed for 3 years following discharge. Age, sex, length of hospital stay, length of surgical intensive care unit stay, and admitting diagnosis were abstracted from medical records. For living patients, ventilator-dependence at discharge and disposition to rehabilitation facility were documented. Date of death was determined from medical records and the Social Security Death Master File. Using a proportional hazards model, these patient variables were analyzed for their contribution to mortality during admission as well as at 1 year and 3 years post discharge. Results: Sixty-four patients were included in the study: 35 males and 29 females with a mean age of 59 (21 -83) years, surgical intensive care unit stay of 47 (30 -125) days, and hospital stay of 58 (30 -178) days. Thirty patients died during admission, 16 died within 1 year of discharge, and an additional 4 patients died within 3 years. Among those discharged, 70% of deaths occurred within 3 months. No variables were identified as independent risk factors for mortality. Conclusions: An increasing number of patients are admitted for prolonged stays in the surgical intensive care unit. The human cost of prolonged surgical intensive care unit admission is high with 70% of patients succumbing during admission or within the first year after discharge. E. Eggenberger et al. 377
Surgical intensive care unit – essential for good outcome in major abdominal surgery?
Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery, 2011
Surgical intensive care units (ICU) play a pivotal role in perioperative care of patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. Differences in quality of care provided by medical staff in ICUs may be linked to improved outcome. This review aims to elucidate the relationship between quality of care at various ICUs and patient outcome, with the ultimate aim of identifying key measures for achieving optimal outcome. We reviewed the literature in PubMed to identify current ICU structural and process concepts and variations before evaluating their respective impact on quality of care and outcome in major abdominal surgery. ICU leadership, nurse and physician staffing, and provision of an intermediate care unit are important structural components that impact on patients' outcome. A "mixed ICU" model, with intensivists primarily caring for the patients in close cooperation with the primary physician, seems to be the most effective ICU model. Surgeons' involvement in intensive care is essential, and a close cooperation between surgeons and anesthesiologists is vital for good outcome. Current general process concepts include early mobilization, enteral feeding, and optimal perioperative fluid management. To decrease failure-to-rescue rates, procedure-specific intensive care processes are particularly focused on the early detection, assessment, and timely and consistent treatment of complications. Several structures and processes in the ICU have an impact on outcome in major abdominal surgery. ICU structures and care processes connected with optimal outcome could be transmitted to other centers to improve outcome, independent of procedure volume.
Journal of Hospital Medicine, 2012
BACKGROUND: A shortage of critical care specialists or intensivists, coupled with expanding United States critical care needs, mandates identification of alternate qualified physicians for intensive care unit (ICU) staffing. OBJECTIVE: To compare mortality and length of stay (LOS) of medical ICU patients cared for by a hospitalist or an intensivist-led team. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Urban academic community hospital affiliated with a major regional academic university. PATIENTS: Consecutive medical patients admitted to a hospitalist ICU team (n ¼ 828) with selective intensivist consultation or an intensivist-led ICU teaching team (n ¼ 528). MEASUREMENTS: Endpoints were ICU and in-hospital mortality and LOS, adjusted for patient differences with logistic and linear regression models and propensity scores. RESULTS: The odds ratio adjusted for disease severity for in-hospital mortality was 0.8 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.49, 1.18; P ¼ 0.23) and ICU mortality was 0.8 (95% CI: 0.51, 1.32; P ¼ 0.41), referent to the hospitalist team. The adjusted LOS was similar between teams (hospital LOS difference 0.9 days, P ¼ 0.98; ICU LOS difference 0.3 days, P ¼ 0.32). Mechanically ventilated patients with intermediate illness severity had lower hospital LOS (10.6 vs 17.8 days, P < 0.001) and ICU LOS (7.2 vs 10.6 days, P ¼ 0.02), and a trend towards decreased inhospital mortality (15.6% vs 27.5%, P ¼ 0.10) in the intensivist-led group. CONCLUSIONS: The adjusted mortality and LOS demonstrated no statistically significant difference between hospitalist and intensivist-led ICU models. Mechanically ventilated patients with intermediate illness severity showed improved LOS and a trend towards improved mortality when cared for by an intensivist-led ICU teaching team.
2015
Surgical intensive care units (SICUs) are special units for critically ill surgical patients both in the pre and postoperative period. There is little aggregated information about surgical patients who are admitted to the Thai surgical ICU. The objective of this report was to describe patient characteristics, outcomes of ICU care, incidence and outcomes of adverse events in the SICU in the participating SICUs. Material and Method: This multi-center, prospective, observational study of nine university-based SICUs was done. All admitted patients with ages >18 years old were included. Information about patient characteristics, underlying medical problems, indication and type of ICU admission, severity score as ASA physical status in operative patients, APACHE II score and SOFA score, adverse events of interest, ventilator days, ICU and 28 days mortality. The association of outcome and predictors was reported by relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Statistical significant difference was defined by p<0.05. Results: During April 2011-January 2013 of total cohort time, a total of 4,652 patients from nine university-based SICUs were included in this study. Mode of patient age was 71-75 year old for both sexes. Median (IQR) of APACHE II scores and SOFA scores were 10 (7-10) and 2 (1-5), respectively. Seventy eight percent of patients were postoperative patients and 50% of them were ASA physical status III. The median of ICU stay was 2 (IQR 1-4) days. Each day of ICU increment was associated with increased 1.4 days of a hospital stay. Three percent of survived at discharge were clinically inappropriate discharge resulting in ICU readmission. Sixty-five percent were discharged home after ICU admission. ICU and 28 days mortality was 9.6% and 13.8%. The seven most common adverse events were sepsis (19.5%), acute kidney injury (AKI) (16.9%), new cardiac arrhythmias (6.2%), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (5.8%), cardiac arrest (4.9%), delirium (3.5%) and reintubation within 72 hours (3.0%), respectively. Most of the adverse events occurred in the first five days, significantly less occurred after 15 days of ICU admission. The association between adverse events and 28 days mortality were significant for cardiac arrest (