Are nurse workload and inexperienced medical staff members associated with seasonal peaks in severe adverse events in the adult medical intensive care unit : A seven-year prospective study?
Results identify nurse workload and the arrival of inexperienced residents or senior registrars as risk factors for the occurrence of life-threatening adverse events in the adult medical intensive care unit. Limiting fluctuations in bed-to-nurse ratio and providing inexperienced medical staff members with sufficient supervision may decrease severe adverse events in critically ill patients.
These findings suggest that device-assisted lead extraction is a high-risk procedure and that serious complications including death may not be mitigated by emergency surgery. However, skilled standby cardiothoracic surgery is essential when performing pacemaker and ICD lead extractions. Although the incidence of these complications is unknown, the results of our study imply that device-assisted lead extractions should be performed by highly qualified physicians and their teams in specialized centres.