Table 1.
Patient and hospital characteristics by intensivist staffing status.
| No intensivist staffing | Always intensivist staffed | Transitioned to intensivist staffing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. (%) of patients * | |||
| n = 1,086,286 | n = 1,036,470 | n = 794,045 | |
| Age | |||
| 65–69 | 167,429 (15.4) | 164,296 (15.9) | 121,821 (15.3) |
| 70–74 | 170,242 (15.7) | 162,295 (15.7) | 123,967 (15.6) |
| 75–79 | 204,986 (18.9) | 195,772 (18.9) | 150,350 (18.9) |
| 80–84 | 223,241 (20.6) | 213,656 (20.6) | 164,860 (20.8) |
| 85–89 | 185,734 (17.1) | 173,296 (16.7) | 135,936 (17.1) |
| 90+ | 135,014 (12.4) | 127,155 (12.3) | 97,111 (12.2) |
| Male sex | 484,037 (44.6) | 473,647 (45.7) | 355,740 (44.8) |
| Non-white race | 130,627 (12.0) | 179,452 (17.3) | 121,971 (15.4) |
| Comorbidities, mean (SD) | 2.5 (1.4) | 2.5 (1.3) | 2.5 (1.4) |
| Cause of admission | |||
| Congestive heart failure | 458,549 (42.2) | 444,839 (42.9) | 337,366 (42.5) |
| Acute MI | 174,212 (16.0) | 191,736 (18.5) | 141,323 (17.8) |
| Pneumonia | 287,361 (26.5) | 229,910 (22.2) | 192,708 (24.3) |
| Hip fracture repair | 80,275 (7.4) | 71,599 (6.9) | 57,447 (7.2) |
| AAA repair | 21,178 (2.0) | 33,023 (3.2) | 18,940 (2.4) |
| Colectomy | 64,711 (6.0) | 65,363 (6.3) | 46,261 (5.8) |
| Admission type | |||
| Emergency | 670,959 (61.8) | 750,837 (72.4) | 523,861 (66.0) |
| Urgent | 291,531 (26.8) | 158,230 (15.3) | 178,101 (22.4) |
| Elective | 123,796 (11.4) | 127,403 (12.3) | 92,083 (11.6) |
| No. (%) of hospitals * † | |||
| n = 234 | n = 129 | n = 125 | |
| Geography | |||
| Urban | 174 (78.4) | 125 (99.2) | 118 (95.9) |
| Rural | 32 (14.4) | 1 (0.8) | 3 (2.4) |
| Teaching status ‡ | |||
| No teaching | 185 (83.3) | 35 (27.6) | 80 (64.5) |
| Minor teaching | 31 (14.0) | 33 (26.0) | 28 (22.6) |
| Major teaching | 6 (2.7) | 59 (46.5) | 16 (12.9) |
| Financial status | |||
| Not for profit | 112 (50.5) | 97 (76.3) | 90 (72.6) |
| For profit | 100 (45.1) | 7 (5.5) | 28 (22.6) |
| Bed size | |||
| 6–49 beds | 14 (6.3) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.8) |
| 50–299 beds | 157 (70.7) | 46 (36.2) | 72 (58.1) |
| 300+ beds | 51 (23.0) | 81 (63.8) | 51 (41.1) |
| Registered nurse hours per patient day, mean (SD) | 7.9 (2.5) | 8.9 (2.8) | 8.3 (2.7) |
All comparisons across the three groups had p-values of <0.01 except minor teaching (0.02) and RN hours per patient day (0.25).
Data were not available for every hospital. Thus the total number of hospitals in each category (e.g. beds) does not necessarily add to the total number of hospitals of that intensivist staffing type.
Major teaching included those hospitals that were members of the Council of Teaching Hospitals (CTH). Minor hospitals included those that were not CTH members but still had a residency program certified by Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The remaining hospitals were classified as ‘no teaching’.
Abbreviations: AAA, abdominal aortic aneurysm; MI, myocardial infarction; SD, standard deviation.