Critically Ill Surgical Patients Followed in a Medical Intensive Care Unit

Aim: Postoperative patients, particularly the elderly, might have high hospital mortality rates. A multidisciplinary approach can decrease the mortality rate in this patient population and offer high quality intensive care. The aim of this study was to evaluate the general characteristics and outcome of surgical and trauma patients followed in a medical intensive care unit (MICU).Material and Methods: Data of critically-ill surgical patients, who were operated on during the MICU stay or within 1 month before MICU admission, and of trauma patients admitted to the MICU in a tertiary care university hospital between 1 May 2006 and 1 May 2009, were retrospectively collected from a prospectively established database. Results: Thirty nine of 794 admissions (5%) in the defined period were trauma or postoperative patients. Twenty six of them had at least one accompanying comorbidity. Among trauma patients, there was just one death. The predicted mortality of the postoperative patients was 33.1%, while the overall observed MICU mortality was 25.6%.Conclusion: Trauma and high-risk postoperative patients can be followed in MICUs with good ICU care and surgical back-up and good cooperation between medical and surgical departments.