Forwarded from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy:

New Report: The Epidemiology and Outcomes of Critical Illness in Manitoba

Manitoba’s intensive care units (ICUs) operate efficiently, even though the supply of ICU beds in Manitoba is lower than the national average, says a new report the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy.

What makes this study so valuable is that it includes the entire population of Manitoba and every intensive care unit in the province. In 2007/08, Manitoba had 118 ICU beds. There were 82 in Winnipeg hospitals, nine in Brandon, and 27 more spread among nine rural hospitals.

In the most comprehensive study of its kind, researchers MCHP examined the use of intensive care units in the province from 1999 to 2008. They found:

• About 8% of those in hospitals need ICU care each year (or about 0.6% of the adult population of Manitoba.
• Admission rates were lowest among young adults and rose with age, especially above 55 years. Admission rates peaked at about 80 years old, and then declined among older residents.
• over a nine-year period, ICU beds in Winnipeg were completely full less than 5% of the time. Outside Winnipeg, ICU beds were full less than 1% of the time.
• Over half of all patients were admitted to an ICU because of cardiovascular conditions but the number of people admitted to ICUs for these problems fell over time, which parallels the decreases in heart attack and stroke rates in Manitoba.
• Other illnesses commonly bringing patients to the ICU were severe infections, lung disorders, accidents or trauma, and poisonings.
• Men accounted for about 60% of patients in ICUs. When adjusting for disparities, researchers found a higher underlying rate of critical illness among men, which explains their higher rate of ICU use.
• When socioeconomic disparities in ICU care were adjusted, the report showed residents of higher income areas were slightly more likely to be admitted to an ICU.
• One sixth of ICU care was for people who had previously been in a Manitoba ICU during the nine-year study period.
• ICU patients’ use of the healthcare system (including hospital care, physician visits, prescription drugs, home care, and placement in personal care homes) turned out to be remarkably similar to that of people admitted to hospital but who did not use an ICU.
• ICU patients were almost four times more likely to be re-admitted to an ICU in the year after discharge.

Download the complete report and summary here:
http://mchp-appserv.cpe.umanitoba.ca/deliverablesList.html

Orvie Dingwall, BA, MLIS, AHIP

Outreach Services Librarian

MHIKNET Library Services

Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library

University of Manitoba

email: orvie_dingwall@umanitoba.ca

phone: 204.977.5660

website: http://mhiknet.lib.umanitoba.ca/