Abstract
This study 1) measured manpower requirements for patient care in the pediatric ICU and 2) correlated manpower needs with measures of severity of illness (Physiologic Stability Index: PSI) and quantity of care (Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System: TISS) to assess their usefulness in predicting staffing needs. Methods: 9 randomly selected observation shifts (8 hours) were studied. Manpower needs were measured by an intermittent time sampling technique. PSI and TISS scores were determined for the observation shift, previous shift and previous 24 hours. Results: 91 patients were observed. Total personnel hr/pt = 8.1 ± .5 (range .7-16.4), MD hr/pt = 1.2 ± .2 (range 0-10.1) and respiratory therapy (RT) hr/pt = 0.3 ± .1 (range 0-2.4). Correlations of manpower times with PSI and TISS scores were significant (p <.01). For the observation shift these were:
Observation shift manpower times were also significantly correlated with previous shifts and previous 24 hour PSI and TISS scores. Higher order curve fitting did not improve the correlations. Conclusions: Manpower requirements for pediatric ICU's are extensive. PSI and TISS scores which are routinely collected in many ICU's can assess trends in staffing needs but not individual patient manpower needs.
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Pollack, M. MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS IN PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE. Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 111 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00111
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00111
