Incorporating an intensive care unit within the emergency department helped Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine improve care and survival rates for its ED population, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
Michigan Medicine established the Massey Family Foundation Emergency Critical Care Center, or EC3, its ED-based ICU, in February 2015. The unit encompasses 7,800 square feet and includes five resuscitation trauma bays and nine patient rooms.
For the study, researchers gathered EHR data for all ED visits at Michigan Medicine between Sept. 1, 2012 and July 31, 2017. They compared 30-day patient death outcomes and ICU admission rates among ED patients before and after the critical care center was established.
Researchers found death rates decreases from 2.13 percent before the critical care center was established to 1.83 percent afterward. ICU admissions also fell 3.2 percent, to 2.7 percent.
"In addition to improving patient care within the emergency department, this strategy increased the availability of inpatient critical care resources to other patients already in the hospital or awaiting a transfer to our hospital," said Robert Neumar, MD, PhD, senior study author and professor and chair of emergency medicine at Michigan Medicine.