In the study, 3 percent of patients undergoing hip or knee replacement required critical care services and those who did had higher mortality rates, longer hospital stays, higher costs and were less likely to be discharged home.
The patients who were most likely to require critical care services were older patients and those with multiple comorbidities. The report also said patients who underwent general anesthesia were more likely to use critical care services than those who underwent regional anesthesia.
New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery‘s director of critical care services Stavros Memtsoudis, MD, says that hospitals should understand that joint replacement patients are going to be a significant part of their population and allocate resources for critical care accordingly.
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