Profile of referrals to an intensive care unit from a regional hospital emergency centre in KwaZulu-Natal
| Autor: | Robert A. Wise, Nikki Allorto, Mika Singh, Roshen Chathram Maharaj |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Medicine (General)
Original article medicine.medical_specialty Emergency centre Referral Population law.invention R5-920 Geochemistry and Petrology law medicine Intensive care unit education education.field_of_study business.industry Workload Triage Mews Regional hospital Critical care Emergency medicine Emergency Medicine Medicine business Gerontology Decision-making |
| Zdroj: | African Journal of Emergency Medicine African Journal of Emergency Medicine, Vol 11, Iss 4, Pp 471-476 (2021) |
| ISSN: | 2211-419X |
| Popis: | Introduction The objective was to describe the clinical characteristics, disease profile and outcome of patients referred from a regional hospital Emergency Centre (EC) to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Methods A retrospective review was performed using data extracted from the Integrated Critical Care Electronic Database (iCED). Data were extracted from the database with respect to patient characteristics, Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) grading, and outcome of the ICU referral. Modified early warning scores (MEWS) were calculated from EC referral data. Results There were a total of 2187 referrals. Of these, 56.3% (1231/2187) were male. The mean age of referrals was 36 years. Of the referred patients, 41.5% (907/2187) were initially accepted for admission. A further 378 patients were accepted for admission after a follow up ICU review. Medical conditions accounted for the majority of patient referrals, followed by general surgery and trauma. Most patients initially accepted to ICU were classified as SCCM I and II and had a mean MEWS of 4. Almost half of the patients experienced a delay in admission, most commonly due to a lack of ICU bed availability. ICU mortality was 13.6% for patients admitted from the EC. Discussion The EC population referred to the ICU was young with a high burden of medical and trauma conditions. Decisions to accept patients to ICU are limited by available resources, and there was a need to apply ICU triage criteria. Delays in the transfer of ICU patients from the EC increase the workload and contribute to EC crowding. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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