Articles: intensive-care-units.
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Despite intense interest in allocation of resources to neonatal intensive care, no description exists of resource use by the large numbers of newborns admitted for triage, the process of short-term evaluation and management of infants after delivery. This study characterized the triage phase of neonatal care with respect to infant demographics, risk factors for illness, and the course of the hospital admission. We hypothesized that triage infants were responsible for a significant fraction of total intensive care resource utilization, and that patterns of use were predictable. ⋯ Neonatal triage is a low-acuity but time-intensive process that contributes significantly to total resource use by newborns because of the large numbers of infants involved. Both LOS and costs are affected not only by infant medical characteristics but also by nonmedical markers of unit structure, which may be amenable to change. This source of resource consumption should be recognized in future assessments of costs associated with neonatal intensive care.
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In 1994 this journal published the results of a survey undertaken on behalf of the Working Association for Neurological Intensive Care Medicine (ANIM) in the winter of 1992/93. In the winter of 1996/97 a continuation of this analysis was performed. With the help of a questionnaire the data of 62 intensive care units with a total of 420 beds were established. ⋯ The overall time of ventilation increased to 48 per cent. Overall there are, however, considerable differences between individual units as well as regions. The data presented can serve as a means to monitor the quality of neurological intensive care.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Dec 1998
The use of antimicrobials in ten Australian and New Zealand intensive care units. The Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Multicentre Studies Group Investigators.
A prospective standardized collection of clinical, microbiological and pharmaceutical information on antibiotic use was conducted in Australia and New Zealand intensive care units (ICUs) involving 481 consecutive critically ill patients who were receiving antibiotics for any reason while in ICU. Patients had a mean SAPS II score of 34.1 +/- 17.8 with an expected mortality of 15.6% (actual mortality 12%). Of these, 292 (60.8%) were admitted to the ICU within 72 hours of surgery. ⋯ Forty-one patients had a documented infection (positive culture) with a gram-negative organism. Of these, 17 received therapy with a single antibiotic and 24 received therapy with two antibiotics. Despite similar illness severity, there were six deaths in the former group and only two in the latter.