title: [Large regional differences in Swedish intensive care. A nation-wide inquiry shows that the lowest number of beds is in big cities].
abstract: Shortage of beds in intensive care units has been an issue of intense debate. We studied the distribution of ICU-beds and staffing by sending two web-based questionnaires (Oct 2001 and April 2002) to the director of all single- and multi-disciplinary intensive care units (ICUs) in Sweden. Responses were received from 90% and 95% of a total of 89 ICU directors. During April 2002 782 ICU-beds were available (8.7 per 100 000 inhabitants). Almost 200 beds were not available due to budgetary reasons or lack of personnel. Bed availability and staffing varied from 4.82 ICU-beds and 8.2 staff per bed in the Stockholm area to 13.85 ICU-beds and 3.7 staff per bed in one of the other healthcare regions (Northern Healthcare Region). These differences in regional distribution of ICU-beds and staffing must be discussed carefully taking factors such as distance between units and case-mix into consideration.
authors.affiliation: Thorax-kärlkliniken, Universitetssjukhuset i Linköping, Sweden. sten.walther@lio.se
authors.forename: Sten M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Walther
authors.forename: Carl-Johan
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Wickerts
mesh_terms: D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data