Objective: To test the hypothesis that a formal interdisciplinary team approach to managing ICU patients requiring mechanical ventilation enhances ICU efficiency.
Design: Retrospective review with cost-effectiveness analysis.
Setting: A 20-bed medical-surgical ICU in a 450-bed community referral teaching hospital with a critical care fellowship training program.
Patients: All patients requiring mechanical ventilation in the ICU were included, comparing patients admitted 1 yr before the inception of the ventilatory management team (group 1) with those patients admitted for 1 yr after the inception of the team (group 2). Group 1 included 198 patients with 206 episodes of mechanical ventilation and group 2 included 165 patients with 183 episodes of mechanical ventilation.
Intervention: A team consisting of an ICU attending physician, nurse, and respiratory therapist was formed to conduct rounds regularly and supervise the ventilatory management of ICU patients who were referred to the critical care service.
Measurements and main results: The two study groups were demographically comparable. However, there were significant reductions in resource use in group 2. The number of days on mechanical ventilation decreased (3.9 days per episode of mechanical ventilation [95% confidence interval 0.3 to 7.5 days]), as did days in the ICU (3.3 days per episode of mechanical ventilation [90% confidence interval 0.3 to 6.3 days]), numbers of arterial blood gases (23.2 per episode of mechanical ventilation; p less than .001), and number of indwelling arterial catheters (1 per episode of mechanical ventilation; p less than .001). The estimated cost savings from these reductions was $1,303 per episode of mechanical ventilation.
Conclusion: We conclude that a ventilatory management team, or some component thereof, can significantly and safely expedite the process of "weaning" patients from mechanical ventilatory support in the ICU.