AUDIT OF INTENSIVE CARE UNIT ADMISSIONS FROM THE OPERATING ROOM

The basic aim of our study was to evaluate intensive care unit admissions from the operating room and to characterise the patient population and the types of problems that were associated with these admissions. We also aimed to determine whether pre-operative, intra-operative and immediate post-operative risk factors identify patients for intensive care admission. This study was conducted over a period of six months. During this period there were 204 ICU admissions out of a total of 13,170 anaesthetics. The patients were categorized and were admitted to ICU into two groups: PLANNED (patients for whom the anaesthesiologist decided pre-operatively that intensive care unit admission would be necessary) and UNPLANNED (patients in whom the need for ICU admission was not anticipated pre-operatively). An overall ICU admission rate of 1.5% was observed. The factors associated with a high risk of ICU admission included male sex, ASA physical status 3/4/5, abdominal surgery, general anaesthesia, surgery undertaken on an emergency basis, intra-operative persistent tachycardia, major blood loss, hypotension requiring ionotropic support.