Outcomes of patients considered for, but not admitted to, the intensive care unit.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate factors associated with decisions to reject patients from medical intensive care unit (MICU) admission and assess the outcome of these patients.

Design: Prospective, observational cohort study.

Setting: Large tertiary referral, teaching hospital.

Correlation between activated clotting time and activated partial thromboplastin times.

Objective: To evaluate the correlation between clotting time tests and heparin concentration, the correlation between activated clotting time (ACT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) results, and to compare the clinical decisions based on ACT results with those based on aPTT results.

Methods: Retrospective evaluation of a large database containing heparin concentrations, ACT results (1 device), and aPTT results (3 different instruments: 2 bedside, 1 laboratory-based). Correlations between heparin concentrations and clotting time tests and between ACT results and aPTT results were determined.