Structure of the Anesthesia Intensive Care Units: Recommendations of the Intensive Care Section of the Spanish Society of Anaesthesiology

Abstract

Background and objective: In this article, the Intensive Care Section of the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology (SCI-SEDAR) establishes new recommendations based on the standards published by the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare and aligned with the principle international guidelines, and develops a tool to improve quality and efficiency.

Materials and method: Over a 12-month period (2018), 3 members of the SCI-SEDAR defined the methodology, developed the recommendations and selected the panel of experts. Due to the limited evidence available for many of the recommendations and the significant structural differences between existing anesthesia intensive care units, we chose a modified Delphi approach to determine the degree of consensus.

Results: The panel consisted of 24 experts from 21 institutions. The group put forward 175 recommendations on 8 sections, including 129 with strong consensus and 46 with weak consensus.

Conclusions: The SCI-SEDAR has established a series of structural recommendations that should be used when renovating or creating new anesthesia intensive care units.

Keywords: Anesthesia intensive care unit; Calidad asistencial; Consenso; Consensus paper; Quality of care; Recomendaciones estructurales; Structural requirements; Unidad de cuidados intensivos de anestesia.