Intermediate Medical Care Unit´s Experience – 2005-2014

Abstract

Introduction: Intermediate Medical Care Units (IMCU) are real
needs of modern hospitals. They improve quality of care and reduce costs and, at the same time, make way for coordination between all hospital departments. We present a study of an IMCU, since its
opening in 2005 until 2014, in order to ascertain what’s the reality
when in charge of Internal Medicine.
Material and Methods: The authors performed a retrospective and
descriptive analysis of the patients admitted in the above IMCU between October the 29th 2005 and December the 31st 2014.
Results: In the IMCU 1641 patients were admitted, 46% female and
54% male, with an average age of 61 years. The average hospital
stay was about 4 days. Most of the patients came from the emergency department (45.3%), followed by the ward of Internal Medicine (27.1%) and the Intensive Care Unit (20.9%). The main reasons
for admission were pneumonia (33.5%), which came up with great
expression, intoxication (8.7%), pulmonary embolism (8.3%) and
global respiratory failure (7.1%). The mortality rate was 5.7%. Step-up occurred in 7.9% of patients and step-down in 92.1%, with
the vast majority of patients being transferred to the ward of Internal
Medicine. In the 2 years since its institution in the IMCU, non-invasive ventilation was performed in 23.0% of patients enrolled and
mainly used in the context of exacerbation of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (39.9% of cases), pneumonia (30.3%) and acute
pulmonary edema (20.8%).
Conclusion: This unit reinforces the importance of IMCUs as a bridge between the different departments and as form of intervention
in a plurality of ways, resulting in a high degree of effectiveness and
efficiency in improving care and maximizing resources, with a low
mortality rate.