April 2014 PulmCC Twitter Chat: ICU Staffing and Design
March 31, 2014
By: Dr. Chris Carroll and Dr. Deep Ramachandran
Our April 10th #pulmCC Twitter chat focused on ICU Staffing and Design.
Missed the chat? View our Storify for highlights, complete transcript, and analytics.
New to Twitter chats? Be sure to view the “Nuts and Bolts” section of our past #pulmCC Storify to learn more.
Critical care has become a central part of the American health-care system. While the number of patient encounters in ICUs account for only a small percentage of the total number of patient encounters across the country, that care involves huge investments of time, technology, expertise, and manpower. For these reasons, the total cost of that care accounts for 20% of all US health-care costs and 1% of gross US GDP.
The next several years will see the nation’s critical care work force face daunting challenges brought on by two major forces currently at work. The first is the upcoming demographic bubble of baby boomers reaching retirement age. Twenty percent of the US population currently pass away either while inside an ICU or soon afterwards. There is no doubt that greater ICU resources will be sorely needed in the coming years.
The second challenge we face is a shortage of critical care physicians. The COMPACCS study predicted that demand for critical care services will exceed supply by nearly 35% by the year 2030. Those of us working in the field know that these predictions are now coming to fruition.
But every challenge has a solution, and as leaders in the field, it’s up to us to find them. Various solutions and models have been proposed to help deal with these challenges. They vary from the use of physician extenders, e-ICUs, “smart” ICUs, and critical care certification for hospitalists after a 1-year fellowship.
In this #PulmCC chat we will be discussing various types of ICU staffing and design, as well as their merits and disadvantages.
T1: What staffing model do you use? What are its benefits and shortcomings?
T2: Should all ICUs be “closed”?
T3: What should be the role of telemedicine in ICUs?
T4: How can we make ICUs “smarter”?
More food for thought: