Principles of Critical Care > Part I. An Overview of the Approach to and Organization of Critical Care > Chapter 3. Improving the Quality of Care in the Intensive Care Unit Allan Garland

Key Points

"Intensive care units (ICUs) are an important component of modern health care. This importance derives from large costs that are both human and economic. Approximately one third of adult deaths in the U.S. occur in acute care hospitals,¹ and as many as half of these occur in ICUs.^2,3 An even greater fraction of people spend time in an ICU during the final 6 months of life.³ Among patients admitted to ICUs, 8% to 17% die there, though for some diagnoses the ICU mortality rate is much higher.^4–6..."