Planning patient services for intermediate care units

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Abstract
To describe the technology and nursing services that would be required to care for intensive care unit (ICU) low-risk monitor admissions in an intermediate unit. Prospective, multicenter, inception cohort analysis. Forty U.S. hospitals with >200 beds, including 26 hospitals that were randomly selected and 14 that volunteered for the study. A sample of 8,040 ICU patients admitted to the ICU for monitoring, who received no active life-support treatment on ICU day 1. None. Demographic, physiologic, and treatment information were obtained during ICU days 1 to 7. A previously validated multivariate equation was used to identify 6,180 monitor admissions at low (Conclusions The services received by ICU low-risk monitor admissions provide insight regarding the equipment and nursing care that might be required, and the kinds of emergencies that might occur, if these patients were cared for in medical and surgical intermediate care units. Our data suggest that if ICU low-risk monitor patients were admitted to an intermediate care unit, they would mainly require concentrated nursing care (nurse/patient ratio of 1:3 to 1:4) and limited technologic monitoring.