Primary Intensivists and Nurses for Long-Stay Patients: A Survey of Practices and Perceptions at Academic PICUs

To determine the prevalence of the utilization of primary intensivists and primary nurses for long-stay patients in large, academic PICU and ascertain how these practices are operationalized and perceived.

A cross-sectional survey.

U.S. PICUs with accredited Pediatric Critical Care Medicine fellowships.

One senior physician and one senior nurse at each institution.

None.

Separate but largely analogous questionnaires for intensivists and nurses were created using an iterative process to enhance content/face validity and readability. Sixty-seven intensivists (representing 93% of the 72 institutions with fellowship programs and their PICUs) and 59 nurses (representing 82%) responded. Twenty-four institutions utilize primary intensivists; 30 utilize primary nurses; and 13 utilize both. Most institutions use length of stay and/or other criteria (e.g., medical complexity) for eligibility. Commonly, not all patients that meet eligibility criteria receive primaries. Primary providers are overwhelmingly volunteers, and often only a fraction of providers participate. Primary intensivists at a large majority (>75%) of institutions facilitate information sharing and decision-making, attend family/team meetings, visit patients/families regularly, and are otherwise available upon request. Primary nurses at a similar majority of institutions provide consistent bedside care, facilitate information sharing, and attend family/team meetings. A large majority of respondents thought that primary intensivists increase patient/family satisfaction, reduce their stress, improve provider communication, and reduce conflict, whereas primary nurses similarly increase patient/family satisfaction. More than half of respondents shared that these practices can sometimes require effort (e.g., time and emotion), complicate decision-making, and/or reduce staffing flexibility.

Primary practices are potential strategies to augment rotating PICU care models and better serve the needs of long-stay and other patients. These practices are being utilized to varying extents and with some operationalization uniformity at large, academic PICUs.