706

Abstract

Introduction: Over the years, Intensive Care Unit admissions have increased.The management of critically ill patients is multidisciplinary & requires utilization of lots of resources resulting in higher cost of care. Route of admissions to ICU seems to play a pivotal role in the resource utilization and outcome of patients admitted to ICU. Methods: Data extracted from electronic MICU admissions log, covering the period 2011 - 2012. Routes of admission were categorized as patients admitted Emergency Medicine (ER), In-Hospital Transfers (IHT) including patients from in-hospital ICUs, wards, operative room & patients transferred via Rapid Response Team( RRT) and Transfers from Outside (OSH) which included patients from other hospitals, nursing homes, home etc. Acute Physiologic Score (APS) was collected for each patient at the time of ICU admission. Results: Of 5612 admissions to Medical ICU, 2941(52%) were from ER with mean APS of 11.7, 1355 (24%) were from IHT with mean APs of 13.9, and the remaining 25% were from OSH with mean APS of 14.3. Average age at the time of MICU admission was 55 yrs and when compared against each group it was more or less similar. Females comprised of about 48% of overall admissions. Overall mortality was 11.9%, mortality rate among patients admitted from ER was 7.5 % as compared to 16.9% and 16.7% respectively among patients admitted from IHT & OSH. Conclusions: Even though, greater number of patients were admitted from ER to MICU, patients were relatively less sicker at the time of admission and mortality rate was also lower compared to patients admitted from other routes of admission.