Multidisciplinary Patient Care Protocols

Patient subjects were drawn from the population of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Beth Israel and the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital, both located in Manhattan, New York, US. Patient criteria included the following groups: Pediatric ICU, Cancer, Spine, General Surgery and Gynecology, and were adjusted for the severity of illness with a widely used severity index (APACHE II.) Referrals from doctors, nurses, and social workers of patients who were defined as high acuity (see Appendix A), and who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. Staff subjects included: ICU Attending Doctors, Surgery Residents, Consultant Attending Doctors, Nurses, and Physician Assistants. Subjects included patients, their family members and/or caregivers, and their staff nurses, doctors and therapists who met the study criteria as identified from the PICU and SICU teams. Caregiver/family member subjects were identified by patients and their medical staff. All subjects were considered regardless of gender or racial/ethnic background except for any subjects that declined to participate in the study.