February 1, 2002Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
Reorganizing the delivery of intensive care could improve efficiency and save lives
Why the study?
Does the implementation of specific ICU organizational characteristics improve clinical and economic outcomes in critically ill patients?
Population
Critically ill patients in the intensive care unit
Design
Review
Authors
Discussion
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Member takes
Implication
May guide ICU reorganization; leaves open need for randomized trials to confirm causality.
Structured PICO
Does the implementation of specific ICU organizational characteristics improve clinical and economic outcomes in critically ill patients?
P
Population
Critically ill patients in the intensive care unit
I
Intervention
Implementation of specific ICU organizational characteristics (dedicated specialist physicians, increased nurse:patient ratios, decreased use of non-actionable tests, evidence-based protocols, computer-based alerts, and pharmacist participation in daily rounds)
O
Outcome
Clinical and economic outcomes
Reorganizing ICU delivery with dedicated specialists, better staffing ratios, and evidence-based protocols is consistently associated with improved patient outcomes.
Cite This Study
Randolph et al. (2002) studied this question.