The immediate impact of opening an adult high dependency unit on intensivecare unit occupancy

We assessed the hourly occupancy of our intensive care and high dependency units over an 8-week period commencing on the day our high dependency unit opened. Using criteria established by the working group on 'Guidelines on A dmission to and Discharge from Intensive Care and High Dependency Units' pu blished by the National Health Service Executive, we defined each patient d aily as intensive care or high dependency status. Compared with hourly occu pancy figures obtained before the high dependency unit opened, occupancy of the intensive care unit by high dependency patients has been shown to decr ease significantly from 21.6% to 11.2%. Use of intensive care beds became m ore appropriate, their occupancy increasing significantly from 63.7% to 73. 4%. A significant decrease in readmissions occurred, supporting the hypothe sis that having high dependency beds reduces the number of patients dischar ged prematurely to the wards.