Background During intensive care unit bed shortages, it is recommended that critically ill patients be cared for in the emergency department. Clarity is needed regarding admissions to the medical intensive care unit from the emergency department. Objective To standardize treatment of critically ill patients and reduce time to critical care consultation through an interdepartmental model. Methods Time to critical care consultation, intensive care unit length of stay, and proportion of short-stay intensive care unit admissions were evaluated before and after model implementation. Results Mean time to consultation decreased significantly from before to after model implementation (113.9 vs 56 minutes). Mean intensive care unit length of stay increased from 2.8 to 3.4 days. The proportion of intensive care unit short stays decreased from 21.3% to 19.2%. Conclusion The interdepartmental care model expedited critical care for boarding emergency department patients, increased intensive care unit length of stay, and slightly reduced short-stay admissions.
Haley et al. (Tue,) studied this question.