Features and perceptions of a critical care outreach physician role

Objective: To describe the tasks completed by the critical care outreach physician (CCOP) and staff perceptions of the CCOP role. Design: Prospective observational study and survey of intensive care unit (ICU) staff. Setting: University-affiliated teaching hospital in Australia. Participants: ICU consultants, registrars and nurses. Interventions: Implementing a dedicated ICU consultant to review deteriorating patients outside the ICU. Main outcome measures: Prospective collection of CCOP tasks and survey of ICU staff. Results: During 101 clinical shifts, the CCOP had 1524 encounters (mean, 15.1 [standard deviation, 6.1]; median, 14 [interquartile range, 10–19] per day). The three commonest interventions were emergency department visits, direct consultant communication, and coordinating ICU admissions. Involvement in Medical Emergency Team (MET) calls, expediting patient care, and goals of care discussions were also relatively common. Survey responses were obtained from 55/84 (66%) eligible participants. Most respondents thought the CCOP would improve the predefined processes of care and patient-centred outcomes. The areas of greatest perceived benefit included supporting the MET registrar and coordinating simultaneous emergencies outside the ICU. Areas where the role was perceived to be less beneficial included improving handover, identifying patients at clinical risk outside the ICU, and reducing repeat MET calls. Conclusions: The tasks of a CCOP involved high level communication, coordination of care, and supervision of ICU staff. The effect of this role on patient-centred outcomes requires further research.