A retrospective comparison study of delayed admissions into the critical care unit

Little is known about the effect of alternative patient routes prior to ICU admission on clinical outcomes. Therefore, this study compared patients that were admitted directly from the emergency department into the ICU with those admitted from the wards. Patients admitted from the wards had significantly higher SOFA (6 vs 5, <i>p</i> = 0.038) and APACHE scores (19 vs 16, <i>p</i> = 0.007), as well as a greater need for invasive ventilation (45.5% vs 28.6%, <i>p</i> < 0.001). Hence, this hypothesis-generating study suggests that further work is needed to assess if scoring systems are sensitive enough to assess the need for ICU admission.