Objectives
To develop a pragmatic method of identifying long-stay patients (LSPs) in the PICU.
METHODS:
We surveyed 40 expert stakeholders in 14 Canadian PICUs between February 2015 and March 2015 to identify key factors to use for defining LSPs in the PICU. We then describe a pragmatic method using these factors to analyze 523 admissions to an academic, tertiary-care PICU from February 1, 2015, to January 31, 2016.
CONCLUSIONS:
We present a pragmatic method for the retrospective identification of LSPs in the PICU that incorporates unit- and/or patient-specific characteristics. The next steps would be to validate this method using other patient and/or unit characteristics in different PICUs and over time.
Researchers
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Kusum Menon
Senior Scientist, CHEO Research Institute