AUDIT OF INTENSIVE CARE UNIT (ICU) ADMISSIONS FROM THE OPERATING ROOM: EXPERIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN TEACHING HOSPITAL,BENIN CITY, NIGERIA

This is a retrospective study of all surgical patients admitted into the ICU from the operating room in a period of three years from Jan 2007 - Dec. 2009. A total of 7,724 surgical procedures were performed during the 3-yr period. Two hundred and fifty seven surgical patients were admitted from the operating room into the Intensive Care Unit. This constituted 3.4% of all surgical cases performed under anaesthesia. Major surgeries such as trauma laparatomy, acute abdomen, cranial tumour resections, thoracotomy and high risk obstetric cases accounted for 64% of surgical admissions. Only 42.8% of the cases were planned for ICU admission. The predisposing risk factors for ICU admission were: increasing American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Physical Health Status, emergency procedures, prolonged duration of surgery and major operation. Duration of ICU stay ranged from 24hrs to 23days. There was an ICU mortality rate of 28.4%, while 71.6% of the patients were discharged to the ward