Study: Nighttime ICU intensivists don't boost patient outcomes

Nighttime intensivist staffing had no significant benefits on ICU or hospital length of stay, according to a study recently published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. In a yearlong study, researchers surveyed more than 1,500 patients admitted to the Hospital of the University Pennsylvania Medical ICU, and compared nighttime (7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) staffing with in-hospital intensivists plus the usual complement of medical residents with nighttime staffing with in-hospital residents alone. Nighttime intensivists were attending physicians who were board-certified or board-eligible in critical care medicine.

Having nighttime intensivists could improve staff satisfaction and patient experience, or reduce physician burnout and the incidence of malpractice claims, the researchers noted. However, "we found no evidence that this staffing model, as compared with nighttime telephone availability of the daytime intensivist, had a significant effect on length of stay in the ICU or hospital, ICU or in-hospital mortality, readmission to the ICU, or the probability of discharge to home," the authors wrote.