Length of Surgical Intensive Care Unit Stay and Risk Factorst
PAV ENA BUNBURAPHONG, M.D.*, THEWARUG WERAWATGANON,M.D.*, WALEEPORN RIYAGOON, B.N.**, KAROON TECHAPICHETVANICH, M.D.*, WARALUCK RAMDIT,M.D.*
Affiliation : * Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkom University, Bangkok 10330, ** Surgical Intensive Care Unit, King Chulalongkom Memorial Hospital, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. t Presented at the 49111 Meeting of the Royal Collage of Anesthesiologists of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand. 13111 February 1999.
Objective : To assess length of stay of patients in the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) and to determine risk factors for a long ICU stay.
Design : Review of retrospective data.
Setting : University hospital surgical ICU.
Patients : Out of a total of 681 admissions to the surgical ICU during a one year period (July 1, 1996 - June 30, 1997), 613 had complete medical data which were analysed. Measurements and Main
Results : The frequency distribution was skewed to the right. The median and mode were the same (2 days). 35.89 per cent of the ICU admissions had a long stay (>2 days). Independent risk factors for a long ICU stay in the multivariate logistic regression analysis are increasing age, unstable condition, long weaning time, diuretic therapy and re-operation.
Conclusion : Knowing the length of ICU stay, risk factors for a long ICU stay and how to shorten the ICU stay have potential application in optimizing ICU resource planning and decreasing the health care cost.
Keywords : Length of Stay, Intensive Care Unit, Surgical, ICU, Risk Factor
