Who receives postoperative intensive and intermediate care?

Experiences of Nurses Related to Prolonged-Stay Patients in a Postanesthesia Care Unit in Karachi, Pakistan

“…Most of the nurses' time was spent contacting the primary team to get orders for the treatment of patients; as a result, the patients' condition would often deteriorate. These findings are similar to the findings in the studies by Samad et al and Ziser et al [3][4][5][6] These studies found that physician coverage was a common problem. The surgical team responsible was often not available for advice or for follow-up regarding their patients.…”

“…These findings are similar to the findings in studies in which dying patients and grieving families had negative effects on other PACU patients and their families. [3][4][5][6] Additionally, the present study showed that the PACU patients' continuity of care was affected because there was no dedicated team of doctors assigned to the PACU. Most of the nurses' time was spent contacting the primary team to get orders for the treatment of patients; as a result, the patients' condition would often deteriorate.…”

“…5,6 In addition, postoperative patients may remain in the PACU because a surgeon or anesthetist thinks that the patient requires a higher intensity of care that is not possible on the floor. 4 overflow from the ICU. The study was conducted in the General University Hospital of Patras, Greece, from January 2003 to June 2004.…”

Same-day discharge after craniotomy for supratentorial tumour surgery: a retrospective observational single-centre study

“…3,4 Traditionally, neurosurgery is a resource-intensive surgical specialty where surgery for a brain tumour often involves a large craniotomy with invasive intraoperative monitoring and frequent admission to the postoperative intensive care unit (ICU). 5,6 The advent of intraoperative neuronavigation has helped in planning a more precise surgical approach to the targeted lesion and thus the use of a minimally invasive craniotomy. 7 A smaller craniotomy flap allows for a shorter duration of anesthesia and surgery, faster recovery, and less need for postoperative admission to the ICU.…”

“…5,6 Some recent studies have shown that routine admission to an ICU is not indicated after elective intracranial surgery. 31,32 In a cohort of 3,000 neurosurgical patients transferred directly to an ICU postoperatively, Zimmerman et al observed that 95.8% of the patients did not require any treatment during their stay in the ICU.…”