Demand for Intensive Care beds and patient classification according to the priority criterion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.4945.3489Keywords:
Triage; Nursing; Intensive Care Units; Health Management; Patients; Health Services Needs and Demand.Abstract
Objective: to assess the demand for Intensive Care Unit beds as
well as the classification of the patients for admission, according
to the priority system. Method: a retrospective and crosssectional
study, developed from January 2014 to December 2018
in two Intensive Care Units for adults of a university hospital. The
sample consisted of the requests for vacancies according to the
priority system (scale from 1 to 4, where 1 is the highest priority
and 4 is no priority), registered in the institution’s electronic
system. Results: a total of 8,483 vacancies were requested, of
which 4,389 (51.7%) were from unit B. The highest percentage
in unit A was of Priority 2 patients (32.6%); and Priority 1 was
prevalent in unit B (45.4%). The median lead time between
request and admission to unit A presented a lower value for
priority 1 patients (2h57) and a higher value for priority 4
patients (11h24); in unit B, priority 4 patients presented shorter
time (5h54) and priority 3 had longer time (11h54). 40.5%
of the requests made to unit A and 48.5% of those made to
unit B were fulfilled, with 50.7% and 48.5% of these patients
being discharged from the units, respectively. Conclusion:
it is concluded that the demand for intensive care beds was
greater than their availability. Most of the patients assisted
were priorities 1 and 2, although a considerable percentage of
those classified as priorities 3 and 4 is observed.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
RLAE’s authorship concept is based on the substantial contribution by each of the individuals listed as authors, mainly in terms of conceiving and planning the research project, collecting or analyzing and interpreting data, writing and critical review. Indication of authors’ names under the article title is limited to six. If more, authors are listed on the online submission form under Acknowledgements. The possibility of including more than six authors will only be examined on multicenter studies, considering the explanations presented by the authors.Including names of authors whose contribution does not fit into the above criteria cannot be justified. Those names can be included in the Acknowledgements section.
Authors are fully responsible for the concepts disseminated in their manuscripts, which do not necessarily reflect the editors’ and editorial board’s opinion.
