The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Apr 2020
Does the full-time presence of an intensivist lead to better outcomes in the cardiac surgical intensive care unit?
The study objective was to compare clinical outcomes in a dedicated adult cardiac surgery intensive care unit before and after the implementation of 24-hour intensivist coverage. ⋯ In this large cohort of patients admitted to a dedicated adult cardiac surgery intensive care unit, 24-hour intensivist coverage was associated with reduced mortality among patients with an expected operative mortality 5% or greater. These data suggest that preoperative risk stratification and adaptive cardiac surgery intensive care unit physician staffing may result in improved clinical outcomes and optimized hospital resource use.