The Fenice project to evaluate and improve the quality of healthcare in high-dependency care units: results after the first year.
Intern Emerg Med
; 2024 May 18.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38761333
ABSTRACT
High-Dependency care Units (HDUs) have been introduced worldwide as intermediate wards between Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and general wards. Performing a comparative assessment of the quality of care in HDU is challenging because there are no uniform standards and heterogeneity among centers is wide. The Fenice network promoted a prospective cohort study to assess the quality of care provided by HDUs in Italy. This work aims at describing the structural characteristics and admitted patients of Italian HDUs. All Italian HDUs affiliated to emergency departments were eligible to participate in the study. Participating centers reported detailed structural information and prospectively collected data on all admitted adult patients. Patients' data are presented overall and analyzed to evaluate the heterogeneity across the participating centers. A total of 12 HDUs participated in the study and enrolled 3670 patients. Patients were aged 68 years on average, had multiple comorbidities and were on major chronic therapies. Several admitted patients had at least one organ failure (39%). Mortality in HDU was 8.4%, raising to 16.6% in hospital. While most patients were transferred to general wards, a small proportion required ICU transfer (3.9%) and a large group was discharged directly home from the HDU (31%). The expertise of HDUs in managing complex and fragile patients is supported by both the available equipment and the characteristics of admitted patients. The limited proportion of patients transferred to ICUs supports the hypothesis of preventing of ICU admissions. The heterogeneity of HDU admissions requires further research to define meaningful patients' outcomes to be used by quality-of-care assessment programs.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Intern Emerg Med
Assunto da revista:
MEDICINA DE EMERGENCIA
/
MEDICINA INTERNA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália