ICU DATA: Hard to find! Here’s some for Wisconsin

We get calls now and then from researchers looking for ICU utilization data, so we are always on the lookout for possible sources of data.  There are some interesting hospital financial and utilization data collection efforts going on in some states.  Wisconsin has a remarkable collection of hospital-specific data posted here: http://www.whainfocenter.com/dataresources.htm which you can access at no charge.

In the hospital-specific reports, there are line items for a number of different types of intensive care units.  Although other data items were aggregated up to the state level, I didn’t spot that these ICU utilization were aggregated (let me know if you find them).  So, I took a look at a handful of hospitals in the state and found the following for ICU average length of stay.  This was NOT a comprehensive or scientific study, I just compiled some examples:

ICU AVERAGE LENGTH OF STAY: selected Wisconsin hospitals, 2011

Hospital A

• 30.3 days med/surg ICU
• 11.4 days cardiac ICU
• 9.9 days pediatric (PICU)
• 9.2 days burn

Hospital B

• 23.8 days med/surg ICU
• 24.2 days cardiac ICU

Hospital C

• 2.7 days med/surg ICU
• 2.4 days cardiac ICU
• 4.5 days pediatric (PICU)
• 16.1 days neonatal intensive/intermediate care

Hospital D

• 4.5 days burn
• 4.6 days neonatal intensive/intermediate care

Hospital E

• 20.3 days med/surg ICU
• 3.9 days cardiac ICU
• 21 days neonatal intensive/intermediate care

It would be interesting to do a more rigorous study of whether these data can be directly compared at all — and what factors cause the variability.

Source: WHA Information Center.  Guide to Wisconsin Hospitals: Fiscal Year 2011, July 2012.  Click here for the full text: http://www.whainfocenter.com/data_resources/2011_guide.htm  Posted by AHA Resource Center, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org