Evaluating Critical Care

From the contents: Critical care: problems, boundaries and outcomes. Health services research (HSR): a domain where disciplines and decision makers meet. The structure of intensive care. Process of care assessment and the evaluation of outcome from IC. Severity of illness. Measuring treatment outcomes in IC: mortality, morbidity, and organ dysfunction. Health-related quality of life: during and following critical care. Comparing ICU populations: background and current methods. A hospital-wide system for managing the seriously ill: a model of applied HSR. Funding and support. The integration of evidence-based medicine and HSR in the ICU. What are the results: using systematic reviews to inform decision makers. Consensus methods and consumer opinion. Benchmarking in the ICU: the measurement of costs and outcome to analyze efficiency and efficacy. Assessment of medical devices. Health informatics. Registries and networks. Organizational effects on outcomes. Geographical variations in outcomes.