Impact of decreased intensive care unit bed capacity on the emergency department length of stay and clinical outcomes of critically ill patients
Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
; : 170-178, 2021.
Article
in Ko
| WPRIM
| ID: wpr-901183
Responsible library:
WPRO
ABSTRACT
Objective@#This study aimed to investigate the impact of reduced bed capacity in the intensive care unit (ICU) on emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) and prognosis of critically ill patients. @*Methods@#This retrospective observational study included patients who presented to a university hospital ED and were admitted to the ICU between August 2017 and July 2019. In our center, the number of beds in the traumatic ICU was maintained, while the number of beds in the non-traumatic ICU was reduced. We comparatively assessed ED LOS and the mortality rate between traumatic and non-traumatic patients over 2 years (1 year before and after the reduced number of beds in the non-traumatic ICU) to determine the impact of reduced ICU bed capacity. Also, a multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors related to in-hospital mortality. @*Results@#A total of 2,945 patients were included in this study. In the traumatic ICU patient group, the ED LOS did not change (2.62 [1.95-3.72] hours vs. 2.78 [2.01-3.92] hours, P=0.079) after reducing the number of ICU beds; and no significant difference in mortality rate was noted (19.5% vs. 17.6%, P=0.417). In the non-traumatic ICU patient group, both ED LOS (prolonged by 1.69 hours, 3.46 [2.17-5.66] hours vs. 5.15 [3.43-8.37] hours, P<0.001) and mortality rate (21.6% vs. 25.8%, P=0.003) were significantly increased after reducing the number of ICU beds. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, ED LOS was identified as a risk factor for in-hospital mortality (odds ratio, 1.035; P<0.001). @*Conclusion@#In this study, the reduced ICU bed capacity resulted in prolonged ED LOS of critically ill patients, which consequently contributed to increased in-hospital mortality.
Full text:
1
Database:
WPRIM
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Language:
Ko
Journal:
Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article