학술논문

Nighttime intensivist staffing and the timing of death among ICU decedents: a retrospective cohort study
Document Type
Report
Source
Critical Care. October 3, 2013, Vol. 17
Subject
Control
Quality management
Research
Terminal care -- Research
Mortality -- Research
Hospital patients -- Research
Palliative care -- Research
Intensive care units -- Research
Hospital stays -- Research
Employee attitudes -- Research
Palliative treatment -- Research
Hospital utilization -- Length of stay
Employees -- Beliefs, opinions and attitudes
Language
English
ISSN
1364-8535
Abstract
Author(s): Lora A Reineck[sup.1,2] , David J Wallace[sup.2,3] , Amber E Barnato[sup.2,4,5] and Jeremy M Kahn[sup.1,2,5] Introduction Intensivist physician staffing is associated with lower mortality and decreased length of stay [...]
Introduction Intensive care units (ICUs) are increasingly adopting 24-hour intensivist physician staffing. Although nighttime intensivist staffing does not consistently reduce mortality, it may affect other outcomes such as the quality of end-of-life care. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of ICU decedents using the 2009-2010 Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation clinical information system linked to a survey of ICU staffing practices. We restricted the analysis to ICUs with high-intensity daytime staffing, in which the addition of nighttime staffing does not influence mortality. We used multivariable regression to assess the relationship between nighttime intensivist staffing and two separate outcomes potentially related to the quality of end-of-life care: time from ICU admission to death and death at night. Results Of 30,456 patients admitted to 27 high-intensity daytime staffed ICUs, 3,553 died in the hospital within 30 days. After adjustment for potential confounders, admission to an ICU with nighttime intensivist staffing was associated with a shorter duration between ICU admission and death (adjusted difference: -2.5 days, 95% CI -3.5 to -1.5, p-value < 0.001) and a decreased odds of nighttime death (adjusted odds ratio: 0.75, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.94, p-value 0.011) compared to admission to an ICU without nighttime intensivist staffing. Conclusions Among ICU decedents, nighttime intensivist staffing is associated with reduced time between ICU admission and death and reduced odds of nighttime death.