Identifying patient subgroups and processes of care that cause outcome differences following ICU vs. ward triage among patients with acute respiratory failure and sepsis

Summary

PROJECT SUMMARY Decisions to admit patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) and sepsis (the most common and lethal cause of the acute respiratory distress syndrome) to intensive care units (ICUs) are highly variable across the US. And, yet, these triage decisions have a substantial impact on patient outcomes. In our prior work, we used detailed electronic health record (EHR) data from 9.2 million hospitalizations and found that decisions to admit ARF patients to wards were associated with a 3.8% absolute increase in mortality. In contrast, choices to admit sepsis patients to ICUs resulted