Intensivist improve the outcomes of adult patients

Abstract

Patients admitted into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) come in with complex health issues and more research is needed to understand patient outcomes when a 24-hour intensivist is staffed in an ICU. Exploring ways to improve patient outcomes is the basis of evidence based practice and it is important for health care professionals to understand what interventions can help lead to improve patient outcomes.

Does having a 24-hour intensivist improve the outcomes of adult patients in the Intensive Care Unit?

The purpose of this paper is to examine if there are differences in patient outcome when a 24-hour intensivist staffing model is applied. An intensivist is a medical doctor who specializes in taking care of the critically ill. Patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are often dealing with complex, life threatening illnesses and it is important to provide great care regardless of the time they are admitted into the unit. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate if having a 24-hour intensivist in ICUs results in better outcomes for this population. If an intensivist is staffed on the unit 24-hours a day, they could help implement early interventions that may help improve the survival rate of this vulnerable patient population. There have been several studies evaluating the outcomes of having the ICU staffed 24 hours a day versus ICU units staffed only during the morning. There have also been reviews on how nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants can contribute to staffing in the ICU. The research hypotheses for this paper is that having a 24-hour intensivist improves the outcomes of adult patients in the ICU.