Definition of a Critical Care Laptop Admission

The definition of an "ICU patient" for the Regional ICU Database is:

• admitted under and ICU service attending physician to an ICU/CCU bed. If patient doesn't meet this definition then we don't collect data and enter into the ICU database.

Bed Borrows are not ICU admissions

There are circumstances where other services "borrow" an ICU bed for procedures or monitoring. We do not collect data on bed-borrow patients. Though these patients are looked after by ICU nurses, they are not admitting under an ICU service attending physician. LOS is generally 2-4hrs then they go back to there original department bed.

Examples are:

• ER borrows a bed to do hemodialysis and then the pt goes back to ER.
• medicine borrows a bed for central line insertion or for dialysis or for a bronchoscopy, etc.
• post angio monitoring because angio suit has no staff.
• medicine borrows a bed for cardioversion
• (does anyone have additional bed borrow scenerios?)

Considerations

Apparently the bed-borrow practice is getting more and more common. By not collecting these patients we not accounting for ICU nursing work load caused by them.

In the meantime, our definition of ICU patient stands and excludes bed borrows.

Related Articles

• Definition of a Medicine Service admission.
• also see: Identifying ICU admissions