The Critical Care Resuscitation Unit Transfers More Patients From Emergency Departments Faster and Is Associated With Improved Outcomes.

Background: Transfer delays of critically ill patients from other hospitals' emergency departments (EDs) to an appropriate referral hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) are associated with poor outcomes.

Objectives: We hypothesized that an innovative Critical Care Resuscitation Unit (CCRU) would be associated with improved outcomes by reducing transfer times to a quaternary care center and times to interventions for ED patients with critical illnesses.

Methods: This pre-post analysis compared 3 groups of patients: a CCRU group (patients transferred to the CCRU during its first year [July 2013 to June 2014]), a 2011-Control group (patients transferred to any ICU between July 2011 and June 2012), and a 2013-Control group (patients transferred to other ICUs between July 2013 and June 2014).

Critical Care Resuscitation Unit: An Innovative Solution to Expedite Transfer of Patients with Time-Sensitive Critical Illness.

Background: Time-sensitive, critical surgical illnesses require care at specialized centers. Trauma systems facilitate patient transport to designated trauma centers, but formal systems for nontraumatic critical illness do not exist. We created the critical care resuscitation unit to expedite transfers of adult critically ill patients with time-sensitive conditions to a quaternary academic medical center, hypothesizing that this would decrease time to transfer, increase transfer volume, and improve outcomes.