Relationship between multidisciplinary critical care and burn patients survival: A propensity-matched national cohort analysis.

Objective: The aims of this study are: firstly, to investigate if admission to specialized burn critical care units leads to better clinical outcomes; secondly, to elucidate if the multidisciplinary critical care contributes to this superior outcome.

Methods: A multi-centre cohort analysis of a prospectively collected national database of 1759 adult burn patients admitted to 13 critical care units in England and Wales between 2005 and 2011. Units were contacted via telephone to establish frequency and constitution of daily ward rounds. Critical care units were categorized into 3 settings: specialized burns critical care units, generalized critical care units and 'visiting' critical care units. Multivariate logistic regression analysis and propensity dose-response analysis were used to calculate risk adjusted mortality.

Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis shows that admission to a specialized burn critical care service is independently associated with significant survival benefit compared to generalized critical care unit (adjusted OR for in-hospital death 1.81, [95% CI, 1.24, 2.66]) and 'visiting' critical care services (adjusted OR for in-hospital death 2.24 [95% CI, 1.49, 3.38]). Further analysis using propensity dose-response analysis demonstrates that risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rate decreased as the dose of multidisciplinary care increased, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1 (specialized burn critical care units), 1.81 (generalized critical care units) and 2.24 ('visiting' critical care units).

Conclusions: Admission to a specialized burn critical care service is independently associated with significant survival benefit. This is, at least in part, due to care being provided by a fully integrated multidisciplinary team.