Promoting excellence in Intensive Care Services across NSW.
Through:
- Efficient use of Intensive Care resources.
- Collaboration through communication.
- Effective Statewide Intensive Care service..
Background:
 Over 1 million people are treated as in-patients each year in NSW hospitals. More than 36,000 adult patients are treated in intensive care units annually. This represents a substantial proportion of the acute care budget.
Accessibility to intensive care is vital to the acute care system and the health of the community at large. The intensive care unit is a pivotal component of the acute hospital and, in a broader sense, the critical care system. A broad spectrum of patients with critical illness rely on access to ICU including patients with trauma, organ transplant, burns, complex medical and surgical problems and planned major surgery.
There are in excess of 40 intensive care/high dependency units in NSW public hospitals. The Intensive Care Implementation Group (now known as NSW Intensive Care Taskforce) recognised the need for a structured overview of intensive care services,which resulted in the formation of an Adult Intensive Care Coordination and Monitoring Unit (ICCMU). ICCMU is postioned between clinicians and NSW Health
ICCMU was established in 2003. It was anticipated that its role would include ‘monitoring intensive care activity and ability of system to meet demand, research into patterns of demand and staffing, central data repository for Area Health Service benchmarking and other quality activities’.
Since that time a clear role for ICCMU has evolved which is wider than the original conception. This role is expressed through the following aims.
AIMS of ICCMU:
- Fostering communication across all key stakeholders including NSW Health, expert groups, clinicians and consumers at state, national and international levels.
- Facilitating an understanding of Intensive Care service provision including resources, workforce, patterns of demand including access issues, and other factors that may impact on the effective delivery of intensive care service in NSW.
- Promoting excellence in the standard of care in all NSW ICUs by:
- Clinical networking, promotion and dissemination of evidence based practice.
- Providing a forum for the systematic analysis and assessment of information regarding the quality of care in NSW intensive care units.
ICCMU Information Guide for Clinicians
Stakeholders
- NSW Health
- NSW IC Taskforce
- Area Health Services
- Aeromedical Retrieval Unit
- Counter Disaster Unit
- Consumers
- Clinicians
- Academia
- Professional
- Organisations
- ANZICS Databases
Standing Committees
Quality Group: provides recommendations to clinicians and NSW Health in relation to improvements in the quality of intensive care delivered in intensive care units in New South Wales.
Consumer Web Page Working Party: (CWPWP): editorial committee supervising consumer information content of ICCMU webpage.
Current Services and Projects
ICU Profiles: overview of NSW intensive care facilities, location, size, type, beds, staffing, contact details.
Quality: development of a checklist to ensure routine ICU management is carried forward.
ICCMU website: Online ICU resources for the clinician and the public.
ICUConnect: email list creating networks among ICU clinicians. To join ICUConnect email
CCRS: Critical Care Resources System, a statewide on- line bed managment system including background data collection.
Intensive Care Collaborative: developing evidence based clinical guidelines for NSW Clinicians.
CLABICU: Collaborative project between ICCMU and Clinical Excellence Commission with the aim of reducing central line associated bacteraemia
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