[Patient assignment to a surgical intensive care unit - plea for a preoperative risk stratification]

Surgical intensive care units (ICUs) have to meet the demands of caring for elective surgical patients, for surgical emergencies, and for trauma patients. To achieve this a high flexibility and a high rate of admissions and discharges are needed. ICU beds are scant and expensive, so who is to be admitted?

All admissions and dis-charges of a 20-bed surgical ICU in a university hospital within one year have been analysed.

During the analysed year 2524 patients were admitted to the surgical ICU (6.9 + or - 3.1 per day). Of 1886 planned admissions (elective surgery) only 1234 were eventually admitted, but there were 1290 additional patients admitted as emergencies. Of all realised admissions only 49 % were planned. In 653 requested but refused elective admissions, the surgery was performed with-out intensive care admission in 432 patients (64.9 %).

Half of the patients of the surgical ICU are electively surgical, half of them are emergencies. The limited number of ICU beds requires strict indications for admission. It turns out to be useful to create a category of patients in whom postoperative intensive care is desirable but not mandatory.