Times are A-Changin': self-poisoning and ICU admissions in the northern part of the Netherlands
Dobbe, A.; Zijlstra, J.G.; Ter Maaten, J.C.; Ligtenberg, J.
Acute Medicine 17(3): 121-123
2018
ISSN/ISBN: 1747-4884 PMID: 30129943 Document Number: 17582
We noticed that fewer patients with self-poisoning were transferred from the ED to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) than previously. To objectify this, we evaluated ED and ICU admissions in two time periods. The number of admissions was collected during 1994-1998 and 2010-2014. As a sample survey, full records of patients with an intoxication from January 2010 till December 2010 were studied. From 2010-2014 26 patients/year were admitted from the ED to the ICU; from 1994-1998 51 patients/year (p=0.0001). In 2010, 270 patients presented to our ED; 31 were admitted to the ICU; 1 patient died. Time spent in the ED was 236 min for patients who went home, 290 min for patients who went to a nursing ward and 185 minutes for patients transferred to the ICU. We found indeed fewer ICU admissions in recent years. Changing work routines - a longer observation period in the ED, causing a workload shift from the ICU to the ED, more than changing patient or drug characteristics, may be the cause for this development.
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