Background: There were nearly 33,000 admissions to Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals for alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in fiscal year 2017. Symptom-triggered management is the standard of care and, when employed effectively, the number of medication doses during admission is a good proxy for clinical severity of withdrawal. Several evidence-based algorithms for outpatient management of [...]

Background: There were nearly 33,000 admissions to Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals for alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in fiscal year 2017. Symptom-triggered management is the standard of care and, when employed effectively, the number of medication doses during admission is a good proxy for clinical severity of withdrawal. Several evidence-based algorithms for outpatient management of [...]

Background: The Intermediate Care Unit was developed in the 1960s and 70s as a level of care between general medicine (GMU) and intensive care units (ICU) [1]. While all IMU patients could be cared for in an ICU, hospitals have too few ICU beds to accommodate patients who are not critically ill, and higher levels [...]

Background: The Intermediate Care Unit (IMU) was developed in the 1960s – 1970s as a level of care between general medicine (GMU) and intensive care units (ICU) [1]. The Society of Critical Care Medicine has established guidelines for admitting patients to an IMU based on severity of illness or need for frequent or complex nursing [...]

Background: Currently, patients admitted to the hospital are assigned specific levels of care such as intermediate intensive care or acute care. Differences among care at these levels largely differ through nursing ratio as well as frequency of nursing assessment. Costs per day for patients at different levels of care differ significantly as well. Little is [...]