Table 1.

Categorization of outcomes in intensive care medicine

Domains	Examples
Important outcomes for the patient	Mortality at any time
	Quality of life
	Functional capacity after ICU discharge
	Cognitive capacity after ICU discharge
Clinical outcomes	Organ failure
	Adverse events (e.g., drug-induced skin reaction or hypotension during renal replacement therapy)
	Outcomes associated with medical care (e.g., hospital-acquired pneumonia, catheter-related infections) and delirium
	Clinical events (e.g., venous thromboembolism and myocardial infarction)
	Pain (in the ICU)
	Anxiety (in the ICU)
	Level of consciousness
	Return to spontaneous circulation
	Strength/muscle circumference
	Sleep duration
	NIHSS score for acute phase of CVA
	Clinical response to antibiotics
	Dyspnea (in the ICU)
	Tolerance to noninvasive ventilation
Biological, physiological, or radiological outcomes	BNP
	NGAL
	Total lung capacity
	X-ray severity score
Outcomes related to the decision of the caregiver	Duration of mechanical ventilation
	Length of ICU or hospital stay
	Exposure to antibiotics
	Reintubation
	Exposure to sedation (dose/time)
	Need for renal replacement therapy
	Need for ventilatory support (invasive or noninvasive)
	ICU readmission rate
	Tracheostomy rate
	Need for blood products
	Need for surgical procedure
Outcomes related to care performance	Quality of the care procedure
	Exposure to noise
	Exposure to light
Other outcomes	Family satisfaction
	ICU staff satisfaction
	Costs and charges
	Judgment of the patient on their readiness for discharge
	Team workload
	Compliance with service protocols
	Medico-legal conflict

ICU - intensive care unit; NIHSS - National Institute of Health Stroke Scale; CVA - stroke; BNP - brain-type natriuretic peptide; NGAL - lipocalin associated with neutrophil gelatinase.