Intensive care unit admissions in the Jos University Teaching Hospital

• Published in: Nigerian journal of clinical practice Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. 156 - 161
• Main Authors: Isamade, E S, Yiltok, S J, Uba, A F, Isamade, E I, Daru, P H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India 01.06.2007
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Child; Child, Preschool; Critical Illness; Female; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Hospitals, Teaching - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Intensive Care Units - statistics & numerical data; Length of Stay; Male; Middle Aged; Nigeria; Retrospective Studies; Time Factors; Nigeria
• ISSN: 1119-3077

To determine the pattern of admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), a tertiary level referral hospital. This is a retrospective study of the record of patients admitted between January 1994 and December 2002 to the ICU of the Jos University Teaching Hospital. The information obtained from the admission/discharge record as well as the patients' case notes included demographic data, working diagnosis, type of treatment, length of stay (LOS) in the ICU and outcome. A total of 738 patients were admitted over this period and comprised 403 males (54.6%) and 335 females (45.6%) giving a male: female ratio of 1.2:1. The age ranged from one day to 98 years with a mean of 28.3 +/- 19.8 years. Postoperative surgical patients accounted for 48.2% of all admissions, while 15.2% were medical cases. Other indications for admissions included polytrauma (9.5%), Obstetrics and Gynaecological complications (16.1%) and burns (11%). The length of stay (LOS) in the unit ranged from 1 to 56 days, with a mean of 4.5 +/- 5.1 days. A total of 241 patients died while on admission giving an overall mortality of 42.8%. Postoperative surgical admissions accounted for 38.6% of deaths followed by burn and polytraumatised patients with 23.2% and 11.6% respectively. The lowest mortality of 8.7% was in the obstetrics and gynaecology patients. The pattern of admission into the unit and the outcome of treatment has not significantly changed after 1-2 decade of an initial report. There is need to increase the number and quality of equipment to cope with the increasing need for ICU care, as well as draw up a policy on the type of cases to be managed in order to improve the out come of care.