Effect of clinical outcomes data on intensive care unit utilization by bone marrow transplant patients.

OBJECTIVE

To determine if a program to educate referring physicians as to the poor outcome of mechanically ventilated bone marrow transplant patients would result in a change in intensive care unit (ICU) utilization.

DESIGN

Retrospective chart review.

SETTING

Medical ICU at an urban university hospital.

PATIENTS

Patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation in the interval before (n = 236) vs. the interval after (n = 144) a physician education program.

INTERVENTIONS

Two separate educational programs were conducted for oncologists and intensivists to review the findings of an earlier study demonstrating the outcome of bone marrow transplant patients in the ICU.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The results demonstrated that this physician education intervention did not result in a change in the utilization of medical ICU resources by these patients. Comparing the time periods before and after the intervention, there were no statistically significant differences in the proportion of patients who were admitted to the medical ICU, the proportion who received mechanical ventilation, or the medical ICU lengths of stay. Similarly, the two groups did not differ regarding the 100-day survival rate of all bone marrow transplant patients studied, all bone marrow transplant patients admitted to the medical ICU, or all bone marrow transplant patients intubated.

CONCLUSION

Simple educational interventions are not a powerful mechanism by which to alter the practice of physicians regarding the utilization of scarce and expensive resources, even when the physicians generally agree that the use of those resources results in dismal patient outcomes.