A Year's Experience in an Intermediate Respiratory Care Unit

Abstract

Background The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics and results of patients admitted to an intermediate respiratory care unit (IRCU). Patients and methods We performed a 12-month prospective observational study of all the patients admitted to our IRCU during the study period. We analysed sociodemographic and clinical variables, the APACHE-II score, blood gas parameters, hospital stay duration, mortality, and hospital readmission. Results We evaluated 190 patients (64.2% men), with a mean age of 69.4 years. A score of greater than 2 on the Charlson index was recorded in 43.2% of patients. The mean APACHE-II score was 16.3 in the accident and emergency department and 14.3 on entering the IRCU. Fifty percent of the patients were admitted to receive ventilation and, of these, only 6 (5.7%) were admitted to be disconnected from the ventilator. The mean duration of stay in the IRCU was 3.7 days. The readmission rate was 12.7%. Mortality was 12.6% during hospitalisation and 11.6% 90 days after discharge. Conclusions The patients admitted to our IRCU were elderly, with considerable comorbidity and high mortality, both during hospitalisation and 90 days after being discharged from hospital. The results revealed no statistically significant differences (mean length of stay, readmission, mortality) according to the type of care administered to the patients (ventilation compared to monitoring).