Quality Improvement Curriculum for Intensive Care Unit Upgrades

Patients admitted to the hospital ward from the emergency department (ED) occasionally decompensate and require transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU). An emergency medicine (EM) curriculum focused on review of these ICU upgrade cases could improve resident knowledge related to patient acuity, critical illness, and appropriate disposition. Furthermore, initial identi fication of critical pathology in the ED and earlier admission to the ICU could reduce delays in care and improve patient outcomes.We performed a retrospective analysis to determine the effectiveness of a resident quality improvement curriculum evaluating cases where patients require transfer from the inpatient floor to the ICU within 12 hours of admission from the ED. We compared postgraduate year 2 (PGY-2) EM residents who participated in the ICU upgrades curriculum during their first year to PGY-2 EM residents who did not participate in the curriculum.Analysis of the 242 qualifying ICU upgrade cases...
Source: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Source Type: research