[Activity-based management applied in an intensive care unit of a public hospital]

This quantitative study proposed to apply Activity-Based Management in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a teaching hospital Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The objective of applying that tool was to direct the establishment of strategies, aiming at reducing costs and optimizing human, technological, and financial resources used in intensive care. The process of patient admission in the ICU was the focus of the analysis. Data were collected in sir collective interviews with 13 ICU team members. The results showed that Activity-Based Management can be used in an ICU, replicated, and that understanding the care process helps to provide information that aid the management to make decision, to identify the need of improvement, and to include the team members in the ICU management practice.