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A large and widening gap between the number of patients who require intensive care unit (ICU) management and the number of available intensivists led investigators to survey 425 practicing U.S. hospitalists (76% from community hospitals, 24% from academic centers) about their roles in ICU management.
More than three fourths of responding hospitalists reported delivering ICU care. Virtually all hospitalists in rural settings provided some ICU care, with more than half of them providing all ICU care in their hospitals. Among hospitalists caring for ICU patients, more than half managed patients who required mechanical ventilation; and 17% managed all ventilated patients in their hospitals. More than one third of hospitalists perceived that they…