Articles: emergency-medicine.
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Ann Acad Med Singap · May 1998
Impact on quality of patient care and procedure use in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) following reorganisation.
We conducted this retrospective, cohort study to evaluate the quality of patient care and procedure use in the medical care unit (MICU) following reorganisation and staffing by an intensivist. Consecutive admissions to an adult MICU in a university affiliated hospital during two 3-month periods, August to October 1993 (Period 1, n = 112) and January to March 1994 (Period 2, n = 127) were analysed. In Period 1, the MICU was run under the open system in which patient care was provided by the individual attending physicians. ⋯ Reorganisation of the MICU in Period 2 resulted in reduced length of MICU stay for survivors. Hence, we believe that coverage by a dedicated ICU team and active respiratory care by a respiratory therapist during office hours were beneficial for the care of the critically ill. There was also a noticeable increase in the use of invasive monitoring.