Effect of reduction of postoperative days in the intensive care unit after coronary artery bypass.

The high cost of medical care prompted us closely to evaluate our practice of keeping all coronary artery bypass patients in the postoperative intensive care unit a minimum of 2 days. Thirty-seven patients were randomly assigned to a 1 or 2 day postoperative stay in the intensive care unit after routine bypass grafting. Nineteen patients in Group I stayed 1 day and 18 in Group II stayed 2 days. Eighteen Group I and 17 Group II patients were evaluated. No differences in type or rate of complications occurred in either group. No deaths occurred. Total hospital costs were $340 less for Group I (not statistically significant, p greater than 0.4), room costs were $361 less for Group I (p less than 0.01), total laboratory costs were $165 less for Group I (p greater than 0.5), and costs for arterial blood gases were $325 less for Group I (p less than 0.001). No adverse effect on patient safety was found by reducing the stay in the intensive care unit from 2 days to 1 day. This and other economies can significantly reduce hospital costs for this group of patients.