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Hospitals Try to Improve Quality of Care and Decrease Mortality Rates in Intensive Care Units

A recent report in The Wall Street Journal underscored efforts by hospitals to improve care, and decrease mortality rates and complication rates in intensive care units. ICUs have the highest mortality rates in the U.S. health care system — about 500,000 of the five million patients admitted to ICUs each year die — partly because ICUs have the sickest patients. But the report cites other problems that contribute to high mortality: ICUs often lack adequate staff, have high staff turnover rates, do not provide instruction to help staff respond to and communicate effectively in emergencies, and do not provide adequate access or information to the families of patients. A number of hospitals have hired specialists called intensivists, improved nurse-to-patient ratios and added pharmacists to improve ICUs. In addition, some hospitals have begun to allow visitors in ICUs 24 hours per day, provide families with special services to update them on the condition of patients and allow families to make rounds with physicians.

According to VHA (formally known as Voluntary Hospital Association), the nationwide coalition of 2,200 not-for-profit hospitals, 12 hospitals that participated in their "Transforming the ICU" program have decreased mortality rates in their ICUs by 20 percent. Most hospitals that participated also have reduced infections in their ICUs, removed patients from ventilators earlier and reduced the time of patient stays.

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