Critical Care Workforce: A Study of the Supply and Demand for Critical Care Physicians.

摘要

Patients in acute care hospitals receive over 18 million days of care in intensive care units (ICU) each year, with related health care costs estimated to be almost one percent of U.S. gross domestic product. The demand for ICU services is projected to grow rapidly during the next decade as the average acuity of hospitalized patients rises with growth in the elderly population. The ability of critically ill patients to receive adequate care depends upon a number of factors, including the availability of highly trained health care professionals. Organizations such as the Leapfrog Group have promoted the increased use of critical care physicians (intensivists), in ICUs as a growing body of research finds that greater use of intensivists results in improved patient outcomes. A report by the Committee on Manpower for the Pulmonary and Critical Care Societies projected a growing shortfall of intensivists unless changes are made to increase the number of physicians trained in critical care.