Objective: To assess the impact of preassigning a single bed in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) for the next trauma admission.
Background: Prolonged emergency department (ED) dwell time before admission to a critical care unit has an adverse effect on patient outcomes and is often due to the lack of an available bed in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Methods: A "Bed Ahead" policy was instituted at an urban level 1 Trauma Public Safety Net Teaching Hospital to preassign 1 SICU bed for the next trauma patient who warrants a critical care admission. A retrospective review of all trauma patients admitted to the SICU before and after implementation of this policy was performed to assess the impact on ED dwell time, ICU and hospital lengths of stay, complications, and in-hospital mortality.
Results: ED length of stay (ED-LOS); ICU length of stay (ICU-LOS); hospital length of stay (HLOS); complications; and in-hospital mortality were compared before (PRE) and after (POST)implementation of the Bed Ahead policy. Statistically significant improvements were seen in the POST period for ED-LOS, HLOS, complications, and in-hospital mortality.
Conclusions: Preassigning 1 ICU for the yet to arrive next injured patient decreases ED dwell times, complications, HLOS, and in-hospital mortality.