title: Nighttime intensivist staffing: is there evidence for a need?
abstract: Postoperative critical care provided by critical care specialists, or intensivists, improves outcomes after surgery. Although there are data supporting daytime intensivist coverage in the intensive care unit, it is not clear how nighttime specialist coverage impacts the quality of care or outcomes. Many surgical intensive care units have adopted continuous 24-hour critical care coverage. Here, we highlight an important study by Wallace and colleagues that reports the impact of nighttime intensivist staffing on outcomes in critically ill patients.
authors: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA. pennathura@upmc.edu
authors: Arjun
authors: A
authors: Pennathur
mesh_terms: D039602:After-Hours Care / Q000592:standards; D016638:Critical Illness; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000592:standards; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000592:standards; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000592:standards; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload / Q000592:standards