부산대학교 도서관

Critical illness is a state of ill health with vital organ dysfunction, a high risk of imminent death if care is not provided and a potential for reversibility.1Surprisingly little is known about the incidence and prevalence of critical illness. Previous attempts to estimate the burden of critical illness have suffered from important methodological limitations when only including patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs), with specific diagnoses or using extensive extrapolations.2Important resource decisions such as the number of ICU- beds, High Dependency Unit beds and staffing levels are made without this knowledge. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and outcomes of critical illness throughout hospitals in contrasting settings in Malawi and Sweden.