Medical ICU admissions during weekday rounds are not associated with mortality: a single-center analysis

This study investigated whether intensive care unit (ICU) admissions to the research team's tertiary care academic hospital during morning rounds was associated with increased mortality. Discharge data were analyzed on 1912 patients admitted to the ICUs between July 2007 and June 2011. Measures included discharge disposition, time of admission to the ICU, source of admission, and expected mortality score. Descriptive statistics were generated to examine the proportion of subjects who died based on admission time to the ICU, and Pearson's χ(2) test was used to test the null hypothesis that mortality rates for admissions during rounds and those at other times of the day would be similar. No difference in mortality was detected between admissions during rounds and all other times, whether analyzed using a bivariate (P = .55) or multivariable (P = .78) analysis. In this study, mortality was associated with severity of illness and not associated with admission during morning rounds.