Planning and understanding the intensive care network in the State of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Brazil: a complex societal problem.

Objectives: To determine the optimal number of adult intensive care unit beds to reduce patient's queue waiting time and to propose policy strategies.

Methods: Multimethodological approach: (a) quantitative time series and queueing theory were used to predict the demand and estimate intensive care unit beds in different scenarios; (b) qualitative focus group and content analysis were used to explore physicians' attitudes and provide insights into their behaviors and belief-driven healthcare delivery changes.

Results: A total of 33,101 requests for 268 regulated intensive care unit beds in one year resulted in 25% admissions, 55% queue abandonment and 20% deaths.

Difficulties in access and estimates of public beds in intensive care units in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Objective: To estimate the required number of public beds for adults in intensive care units in the state of Rio de Janeiro to meet the existing demand and compare results with recommendations by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

Methods: The study uses a hybrid model combining time series and queuing theory to predict the demand and estimate the number of required beds. Four patient flow scenarios were considered according to bed requests, percentage of abandonments and average length of stay in intensive care unit beds.