Research

The program actively supports research activities in all disciplines. The program is committed to cooperation with clinical investigators and research personnel to encourage sound scientific and ethical clinical research. Research supported includes both clinical trials and observational studies.

Research in the ICU is supported by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority Critical Care Management Database which includes a team of critical care nurses located in each of the ICUs, a team manager, a statistician, a data QA processor and process engineer and Database program developer.

Critical Care Information Management Database

This database includes all adult Critical Care patients in the WRHA. The database has been in existence at the Health Sciences Centre since July 1988, and expanded to all other WRHA ICUs by 1999.

It provides information on patient demographics (age, gender, etc.), comorbid conditions, admission diagnoses, severity of acute illness (APACHE II scoring), acquired diagnoses, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed, the frequency of laboratory testing and utilization of certain drugs, transfer delays, length of stay, disposition, and readmission rates. It also assesses and measures nursing workload using the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS 28).

The ICU database serves multiple important purposes.  It provides managers and directors with data used to monitor resource use and track patient flow. The Outcomes Improvement team uses the data to guide continuous efforts to improve the quality of care provided.  Researchers use the data to generate the base population for a wide range of clinical and population-based research.