Effectiveness of collaboration between emergency department and intensive care unit teams on mortality rates of patients presenting with critical illness: a systematic review.

Background: The increasing volume of adult patients with critical illness entering emergency departments (EDs) burdens the resources of EDs worldwide. This subpopulation faces a high risk of mortality because they require specialized care which many EDs are not yet poised to deliver. An element crucial to delivering care and decreasing the mortality of critically ill patients in the ED is expert collaborative practice across disciplines.

Effectiveness of collaboration between emergency department and intensive care unit teams on mortality rates of patients presenting with critical illness: a quantitative systematic review protocol.

The objective of this review is to identify the effectiveness of collaboration between emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit teams on mortality rates of critically ill adult patients in the ED.