Cited by 60Hospital Admissions and OutcomesPatient Safety and Medication ErrorsEmergency and Acute Care Studies

“Deterioration to Door Time”: An Exploratory Analysis of Delays in Escalation of Care for Hospitalized Patients

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Sankey, Christopher B., McAvay, Gail, Siner, Jonathan M., Barsky, Carol L., Chaudhry, Sarwat I.·2016·Journal of General Internal Medicine

Abstract

Background Timely escalation of care for patients experiencing clinical deterioration in the inpatient setting is challenging. Deterioration on a general floor has been associated with an increased risk of death, and the early period of deterioration may represent a time during which admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) improves survival. Previous studies examining the association between delay from onset of clinical deterioration to ICU transfer and mortality are few in number and were conducted more than 10 years ago. Objective We aimed to evaluate the impact of delays in the escalation of care among clinically deteriorating patients in the current era of inpatient medicine. Design and participants This was a retrospective cohort study that analyzed data from 793 patients transferred from non-intensive care unit (ICU) inpatient floors to the medical intensive care unit (MICU), from 2011 to 2013 at an urban, tertiary, academic medical center. Main measures "Deterioration to door time (DTDT)" was defined as the time between onset of clinical deterioration (as evidenced by the presence of one or more vital sign indicators including respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, and heart rate) and arrival in the MICU. Key results In our sample, 64.6 % had delays in care escalation, defined as greater than 4 h based on previous studies. Mortality was significantly increased beginning at a DTDT of 12.1 h after adjusting for age, gender, and severity of illness. Conclusions Delays in the escalation of care for clinically deteriorating hospitalized patients remain frequent in the current era of inpatient medicine, and are associated with increased in-hospital mortality. Development of performance measures for the care of clinically deteriorating inpatients remains essential, and timeliness of care escalation deserves further consideration.

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  • Mortality increases when care escalation is delayed.

    “Mortality increases when care escalation is delayed47; therefore, transparency and explainability, achieved by displaying the CONCERN score and factors driving the prediction, may overcome the dissonance between nurses’ identification of patient risk based on subtle clinical indicators and prescribing providers’ expectations of changes in physiological data, thereby prompting earlier decisions to”

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  1. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2001.

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Authors
Sankey, C. B., McAvay, G., Siner, J. M., Barsky, C. L., & Chaudhry, S. I.
Affiliations
  • Yale New Haven Hospital (US)
  • Yale University (US)
  • Hackensack University Medical Center (US)
Corresponding author
Sankey, Christopher B.
Venue
Journal of General Internal Medicine
Published
2016-03-11
Volume
31
Issue
8
Pages
895-900
ISSN
  • 0884-8734 (ISSN-L)
  • 1525-1497
OpenAlex
W2293326121
Cited by
60
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2
FWCI
8.38
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of General Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Yale University
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1TR001863, KL2TR001862)
  • Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
  • Raymond and Beverly Sackler Institute for Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Yale University
  • National Institute on Aging (P30AG021342)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Hospital Admissions and Outcomes
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Patient Safety and Medication Errors
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Emergency Medicine › Emergency and Acute Care Studies
Keywords
clinical deterioration, treatment escalation, ICU transfer, medical intensive care unit, in-hospital mortality, vital signs, timeliness of care, hospitalized patients, performance indicators
MeSH terms
Clinical Deterioration, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Emergency Service, Hospital, Female, Hospitalization, Humans, Intensive Care Units, Length of Stay, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Transfer, Retrospective Studies, Young Adult, Electronic Health Records, Time-to-Treatment

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