JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
-
Comparative Study
Effects of organizational change in the medical intensive care unit of a teaching hospital: a comparison of 'open' and 'closed' formats.
To compare the effects of change from an open to a closed intensive care unit (ICU) format on clinical outcomes, resource utilization, teaching, and perceptions regarding quality of care. ⋯ Based on comparison of actual to predicted mortality, changing from an open to a closed ICU format improved clinical outcome. Although patients in the closed ICU had greater severity of illness, resource utilization did not increase.