Intensive care unit admissions in the Jos University Teaching Hospital.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the pattern of admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), a tertiary level referral hospital.


METHODS
This is a retrospective study of the record of patients admitted between January 1994 and December 2002 to the ICU of the Jos University Teaching Hospital. The information obtained from the admission/discharge record as well as the patients' case notes included demographic data, working diagnosis, type of treatment, length of stay (LOS) in the ICU and outcome.


RESULTS
A total of 738 patients were admitted over this period and comprised 403 males (54.6%) and 335 females (45.6%) giving a male: female ratio of 1.2:1. The age ranged from one day to 98 years with a mean of 28.3 +/- 19.8 years. Postoperative surgical patients accounted for 48.2% of all admissions, while 15.2% were medical cases. Other indications for admissions included polytrauma (9.5%), Obstetrics and Gynaecological complications (16.1%) and burns (11%). The length of stay (LOS) in the unit ranged from 1 to 56 days, with a mean of 4.5 +/- 5.1 days. A total of 241 patients died while on admission giving an overall mortality of 42.8%. Postoperative surgical admissions accounted for 38.6% of deaths followed by burn and polytraumatised patients with 23.2% and 11.6% respectively. The lowest mortality of 8.7% was in the obstetrics and gynaecology patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The pattern of admission into the unit and the outcome of treatment has not significantly changed after 1-2 decade of an initial report. There is need to increase the number and quality of equipment to cope with the increasing need for ICU care, as well as draw up a policy on the type of cases to be managed in order to improve the out come of care.
Isamade
E S
ES
Department of Anaesthesia, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos. eisamade@yahoo.co.uk
Yiltok
S J
SJ
Uba
A F
AF
Isamade
E I
EI
Daru
P H
PH
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016638:Critical Illness; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors