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Managing Intensive Care Supply-Demand Imbalance

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Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2016

Part of the book series: Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine ((AUICEM))

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Abstract

Intensive care is an expensive resource and it is common for the demand for intensive care unit (ICU) beds to exceed availability with rates of refusal of admission ranging from 17.6–42% [1–5]. Although the seven-fold difference in ICU beds per capita among different high income countries [6] makes it difficult to define the need for ICU admission and suggests that some countries may only experience a true shortfall of beds in exceptional circumstances, it is incumbent on intensive care specialists to understand the principles of managing supply-demand imbalance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong

    C. C. H. Leung, W. T. Wong & C. D. Gomersall

Authors
  1. C. C. H. Leung
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  2. W. T. Wong
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  3. C. D. Gomersall
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. D. Gomersall .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Université libre de Bruxelles Dept. of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital, Brussels, Belgium

    Jean-Louis Vincent

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Leung, C.C.H., Wong, W.T., Gomersall, C.D. (2016). Managing Intensive Care Supply-Demand Imbalance. In: Vincent, JL. (eds) Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2016. Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27349-5_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27349-5_31

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-27348-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-27349-5

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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