Medical surveillance unit: patient characteristics, outcome, and quality of care in Saskatchewan, Canada

• Published in: BMC research notes 2020-02, Vol.13 (1), p.87-87, Article 87
• Main Authors: Vantomme, Karl, Siddiqui, Muhammad, Cossette, Marlee, Lyster, Kish
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Alcohol use; Arrhythmia; Asthma; Cardiovascular disease; Chronic obstructive lung disease; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Comorbidity; Complex patients; Congestive heart failure; Demographic aspects; Demographics; Demography; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diagnosis; Diseases; Drinking (Alcoholic beverages); Drug abuse; Emergency medical care; Emergency medical services; Evaluation; Heart failure; Hospitals; Hypertension; Intensive care; Intermediate care unit; Intravenous drug abuse; Liver; Liver diseases; Lung diseases; Medical care quality; Medical research; Mortality; Obstructive lung disease; Patient care; Patient flow; Patients; Pneumonia; Quality management; Quality of care; Research Note; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory tract diseases; Studies; Surveillance; Watchful waiting (Medical care)
• ISSN: 1756-0500; 1756-0500
• DOI: 10.1186/s13104-020-04951-4

Intermediate care units provide a high level of care to complex patients and are becoming increasingly popular in North America. Despite the growing popularity of Intermediate care units, very little is known about them. This study explored a typical Intermediate care unit, identifying patient characteristics including demographics, comorbidities, length of stay, as well as primary and secondary diagnosis and mortality. A total of 200 patients chart were reviewed, of which, 102 were male, and 89 patients were younger than 65 years old. Diabetes, hypertension, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were common among patients with a prevalence of 33.5%, 56%, and 32.5%, respectively. Alcohol use disorder, asthma, liver disease and IV drug abuse were much more common in patients younger than 65 years. The average length of stay was 5.31 days regardless of age. Almost two-thirds of the patients in the Intermediate care unit were admitted directly from the emergency room. The mortality rate among the patients studied was 9.5%. The most common admitting diagnosis was respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or Pneumonia (38.0%), followed by cardiac disorders which were predominantly arrhythmias and congestive heart failure (27.0%).