Abstract

Introduction: While intensive care practices in 3rd level hospitals are carried out by a full-time intensive care team, 2nd level hospitals, there is mostly open type intensive care. In this study, the evaluation of the positive results observed in health care by employing an intensive care (ICU) specialist in a 2nd level ICU was investigated.

Materials and Methods: Patients hospitalized in the 2nd level intensive care unit of Gümüşhane State Hospital were retrospectively examined. Non-covid patients from the period between October 2020-2021 (period without an ICU specialist) and October 2021-2022 (period with an ICU specialist) were compared. Patients were compared in terms of age, gender, post-operative status, comorbidities, APACHE 2 score, malignancy, hospitalization day, transfer to the service, out-of-province referral, and intensive care mortality.

Results: 127 of 142 patients in the October 2020-2021 period and 212 of 402 patients in the October 2021-2022 period were included in the study. It was determined that the number of post-operative patients was higher and the length of stay was lower in the period when there was an ICU specialist. The average hospitalization day and ICU mortality of the patients were significantly less in the period when there was an ICU specialist (p<0.001). The number of patient transfers to the service was significantly higher in the period when there was an ICU specialist. The rate of out-of-province referrals was significantly lower in the period when there was an ICU specialist (p<0.001).

Conclusion: We came to the conclusion that intensive care specialists can work in 2nd level hospitals and that on-site health services are possible in addition to more active and effective intensive care practices. In our country, it is important for intensive care specialist physicians to actively take part in the processes in both 2nd and 3rd level hospitals and to develop intensive care units there.

Keywords: intensive care specialist, 2nd level hospital, 2nd level ICU, 3nd level ICU, ICU mortality, day of admission, referral

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Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Güneş M, Rollas K, Şenoğlu N. Retrospective evaluation of the effect of intensive care specialist on productivity in a 2nd level hospital. Turk J Intensive Care. 2025;23(3):231-237. https://doi.org/10.63729/TJIC.2025.666