Intensive care in a general hospital: demographics, utilization and outcomes.
BACKGROUND
Intensive care units (ICU) in Irish academic centres are known to fare as well as their international counterparts. Our aim in this study was to characterise the role and outcomes of an ICU in a smaller Irish hospital and to compare these to international best practice.


METHODS
We reviewed admissions of patients to the ICU of St. Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny. Patient demographics, indications for admission, and outcomes were all recorded and analysed. Sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores were calculated.


RESULTS
Forty-three patients were included in our study, 33 (76.7 %) of which were emergency admissions. Median length of stay was 2 days. The observed mortality rate in our cohort was 20.9 %. The median SOFA score in patients admitted was 7. Higher median SOFA scores on admission were predictive of mortality. The ICU occupancy rate during the duration of our study was 98 %, with only 15 (35.7 %) of admissions to ICU occurring within core working hours.


CONCLUSIONS
Critical care can be provided safely and in line with current best practice in smaller Irish hospitals. There is a cohort of patients for whom care may be best provided in a tertiary centre, how best to provide for these patients will likely be achieved by early identification (e.g. with SOFA score). Bed capacity issues remain problematic.
Department of Medicine, St Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny, Ireland, Slattery.eoin@gmail.com.
E
E
Slattery
N
N
Basavaraju
S
S
Ahmed
G
G
Kaur
A
A
Hegarty
M
M
Ahmed
J
J
Dilip
C
C
McGurk
D001509:Bed Occupancy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003422:Critical Care; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007494:Ireland; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index