[Intensive care services resources in Spain]

Abstract

Objectives: To identify the resources related to the care of critically ill patients in Spain, which are available in the units dependent of the Services of Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) or other services/specialties, analyzing their distribution according to characteristics of the hospitals and by autonomous communities.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Spanish hospitals.

Participants: Heads of the Services of ICM.

Main outcome variables: Number of units and beds for critically ill patients and functional dependence.

Results: The total number of registries obtained with at least one Service of ICM was 237, with a total of 100,198 hospital beds. Level iii (43.5%) and level ii (35%) hospitals predominated. A total of 73% were public hospitals and 55.3% were non-university centers. The total number of beds for adult critically ill patients, was 4,738 (10.3/100,000 inhabitants). The services of ICM registered had available 258 intensive are units (ICUs), with 3,363 beds, mainly polyvalent ICUs (81%) and 43 intermediate care units. The number of patients attended in the Services of ICM in 2008 was 174,904, with a percentage of occupation of 79.5% A total of 228 units attending critically ill patients, which are dependent of other services with 2,233 beds, 772 for pediatric patients or neonates, were registered. When these last specialized units are excluded, there was a marked predominance of postsurgical units followed by coronary and cardiac units.

Conclusions: Seventy one per cent of beds available in the Critical Care Units in Spain are characterized by attending severe adult patients, are dependent of the services of ICM, and most of them are polyvalent.

Keywords: Beds; Camas; Critical care; Cuidados críticos; Recursos; Resources; Services of Intensive Care Medicine; Servicios de Medicina Intensiva.