• Daniel J Niven, Jaime F Bastos, and Henry T Stelfox.
• 1Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada. 2Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. 3Institute for Public Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. 4Department of Critical Care, Albert Einstein Hospital, Sao Paolo, Brazil. 5Department of Medicine, University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada.
• Crit. Care Med. 2014 Jan 1; 42 (1): 179-87.

ObjectiveTo determine whether critical care transition programs reduce the risk of ICU readmission or death, when compared with standard care among adults who survived their incident ICU admission.Data SourcesMEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CINAHL, and two clinical trial registries were searched from inception to October 2012.Study SelectionStudies that examined the effects of critical care transition programs on the risk of ICU readmission or death among patients discharged from ICU were selected for review. A critical care transition program included any rapid response team, medical emergency team, critical care outreach team, or ICU nurse liaison program that provided follow-up for patients discharged from ICU.Data ExtractionTwo reviewers independently extracted data on study characteristics, transition program characteristics, and outcomes (number of ICU readmissions and in-hospital deaths following discharge from ICU).Data SynthesisFrom 3,120 citations, nine before-and-after studies were included. The studies examined medical-surgical populations and described transition programs that were a component of a hospital's outreach team (n = 6) or nurse liaison program (n = 3). Meta-analysis using a fixed-effect model demonstrated a reduced risk of ICU readmission (risk ratio, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.76-0.99]; p = 0.03; I2 = 0%) but no significant reduction in hospital mortality (risk ratio, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.66-1.05]; p = 0.1; I2 = 16%) associated with a critical care transition program. The risk of ICU readmission was similar whether the transition program was included within an outreach team or a nurse liaison program and did not depend on the presence of an intensivist.ConclusionsCritical care transition programs appear to reduce the risk of ICU readmission in patients discharged from ICU to a general hospital ward. Given methodological limitations of the included before-and-after studies, additional research should confirm these observations and explore the ideal model for these programs before recommending implementation.

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