This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Higgins, T. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Higgins, T. L. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Quantifying Risk and Benchmarking Performance in the Adult Intensive Care Unit

Baystate Medical Center, Critical Care Division, 759 Chestnut St, Springfield, MA 01199, thomas.higgins{at}bhs.org

Morbidity, mortality, and length-of-stay outcomes in patients receiving critical care are difficult to interpret unless they are risk-stratified for diagnosis, presenting severity of illness, and other patient characteristics. Acuity adjustment systems for adults include the Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE), the Mortality Probability Model (MPM), and the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS). All have recently been updated and recalibrated to reflect contemporary results. Specialized scores are also available for patient subpopulations where general acuity scores have drawbacks. Demand for outcomes data is likely to grow with pay-for-performance initiatives as well as for routine clinical, prognostic, administrative, and research applications. It is important for clinicians to understand how these scores are derived and how they are properly applied to quantify patient severity of illness and benchmark intensive care unit performance.

Key Words: intensive care • severity of illness • mortality prediction • APACHE • Mortality Probability Model • Simplified Acute Physiology Score

Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, Vol. 22, No. 3, 141-156 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0885066607299520


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. L. Higgins Metrics That Matter: Can Transparency Fix the Health Care System? Seminars in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, September 1, 2008; 12(3): 137 - 139. [PDF]