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Critical Care Statistics

The Critical Care Statistics guide provides statistics on many of the current issues in critical care in the United States. It is intended to be used as a reference in efforts such as advocacy, public relations, and general education.

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Critical Care Statistics
The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) represents over 16,000 highly trained professionals in more than 100 countries who provide care in specialized units and work toward the best possible outcomes for all critically ill and injured patients. SCCM maintains that multidisciplinary care teams led by intensivists (physicians trained and credentialed in critical care medicine [CCM]) are essential to critical care delivery, improve conditions for healthcare professionals, and boost hospitals’ financial performance. This guide provides statistics on many of the current issues in critical care in the United States. It is intended to be used as a reference in efforts such as advocacy, public relations, and general education.

Costs of Critical Care
Between 2000 and 2010, annual CCM costs increased 92%, from $56.6 billion to $108 billion. The 2010 costs represent 13.2% of hospital costs, 4.1% of national health expenditures, and 0.72% of gross domestic product. Intensive care unit (ICU) costs per day in 2010 were estimated to be $4300 per day, a 61% increase since the 2000 cost per day of $2669.

United States Resource Availability for COVID-19
This new report from SCCM updates key statistics not previously published and puts this pandemic in historical perspective, discussing key resource availability. The report provides data on:

  • Beds available for critically ill patients
  • Mechanical ventilator supply vs. estimated demand
  • Staffing models to expand care beyond the traditional ICU 

Possible Cost Savings
Cost savings of up to $1 billion per quality-adjusted life-year gained can be attained with critical care management of severe sepsis, acute respiratory failure, and general critical care interventions. The use of 24-hour intensivist staffing is purported to have several advantages, including decreased costs, mortality, complications, hospital length of stay (LOS), improved physician satisfaction, and decreased burnout. However, the majority of studies regarding the benefits of 24/7 intensivist staffing were conducted primarily at tertiary or academic centers that have high patient acuity and volume. Up to $13 million in annual hospital cost savings can be realized when care is delivered by an intensivist-directed multidisciplinary team. The impact of this type of care is demonstrated by the example of a community hospital that achieved 105% return on investment by implementing mandatory intensivist consultation and admission standards, thereby reducing ICU LOS, ventilator-associated events, and central venous access device infection rates.

Hospitals without on-site intensivists may benefit from telemedicine or tele-ICU services, in which sophisticated electronic systems connect ICU patient data to intensivists at remote locations. The intensivists provide real-time monitoring, diagnostic, and intervention services and work with bedside staff. Telemedicine intensivists also interact with patients and their family members. In selected settings, tele-ICU care has demonstrated shorter ICU LOS and lower ICU mortality, which may translate into lower hospital costs and better use of resources. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 ICU telemedicine studies concluded that tele-ICU programs were associated with reductions in ICU and hospital mortality and ICU LOS but not in hospital LOS and were costly to implement. A recent study from the Emory Critical Care Center showed that implementation of an advanced practice provider (APP) residency program and tele-ICU staffed with critical care nurses and consultant intensivists resulted in a $4.6 million cost savings.

Sources:

  • Banerjee R, Naessens JM, Seferian EG, et al. Economic implications of nighttime attending intensivist coverage in a medical intensive care unit. Crit Care Med. 2011 Jun;39(6):1257-1262.
  • Chen J, Sun D, Yang W, et al. Clinical and economic outcomes of telemedicine programs in the intensive care unit: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Intensive Care Med. 2018 Jul;33(7):383-393.
  • Deslich S, Coustasse A. Expanding technology in the ICU: the case for the utilization of telemedicine. Telemed J E Health. 2014 May;20(5):485-492.
  • Gruenberg DA, Shelton W, Rose SL, Rutter AE, Socaris S, McGee G. Factors influencing length of stay in the intensive care unit. Am J Crit Care. 2006 Sep;15(5):502-509.
  • Halpern NA, Goldman DA, Tan KS, Pastores SM. Trends in critical care beds and use among population groups and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in the United States: 2000-2010. Crit Care Med. 2016 Aug;44(8):1490-1499.
  • Kruklitis RJ, Tracy JA, McCambridge MM. Clinical and financial considerations for implementing an ICU telemedicine program. Chest. 2014 Jun;145(6):1392-1396.
  • Kumar S, Merchant S, Reynolds R. Tele-ICU: efficacy and cost-effectiveness approach of remotely managing the critical care. Open Med Inform J. 2013 Aug 23;7:24-29.
  • Levy MM, Rhodes A, Phillips GS, et al. Surviving Sepsis Campaign: association between performance metrics and outcomes in a 7.5-year study. Crit Care Med. 2015 Jan;43(1):3-12.
  • Logani S, Green A, Gasperino J. Benefits of high-intensity intensive care unit physician staffing under the Affordable Care Act. Crit Care Res Prac. 2011;2011:170814.
  • Masud F, Lam TYC, Fatima S. Is 24/7 in-house intensivist staffing necessary in the intensive care unit? Methodist Debakey Cardiovasc J. 2018 Apr-Jun;14(2):134-140.
  • Parikh A, Huang SA, Murthy P, et al. Quality improvement and cost savings after implementation of the Leapfrog intensive care unit physician staffing standard at a community teaching hospital. Crit Care Med. 2012 Oct;40(10):2754-2759.
  • Pronovost PJ, Needham DM, Waters H, et al. Intensive care unit physician staffing: financial modeling of the Leapfrog standard. Crit Care Med. 2006 Mar;34(3):S18-S24.
  • Sabov M, Daniels CE. The value of 24/7 in-house ICU staffing 24/7 intensivist in the ICU. Crit Care Med. 2018 Jan;46(1):149-151.
  • Talmor D, Shapiro N, Greenberg D, Stone PW, Neumann PJ. When is critical care medicine cost-effective? A systematic review of the cost-effectiveness literature. Crit Care Med. 2006 Nov;34(11):2738-2747.
  • Trombley MJ, Hassol A, Lloyd JT, et al. The impact of enhanced critical care training and 24/7 (tele-ICU) support on Medicare spending and postdischarge utilization patterns. Health Serv Res. 2018 Aug;53(4):2099-2117.
  • Young LB, Chan PS, Lu X, Nallamothu BK, Sasson C, Cram PM. Impact of telemedicine intensive care unit coverage on patient outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2011 Mar 28;171(6):498-506.
  • Zimmerman JE, Kramer AA, McNair DS, Malila FM, Shaffer VL. Intensive care unit length of stay: benchmarking based on Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) IV. Crit Care Med. 2006 Oct;34(10):2517-2529.

Critical Care Patients
More than 5 million patients are admitted annually to U.S. ICUs for intensive or invasive monitoring; support of airway, breathing, or circulation; stabilization of acute or life-threatening medical problems; comprehensive management of injury and/or illness; and maximization of comfort for dying patients. ICU patients are a heterogeneous population, but all share the need for frequent assessment and a greater need for technological support than patients admitted to non-ICU beds.

Adult: Cardiac, respiratory, and neurologic conditions are common in adult ICU patients. The five primary ICU admission diagnoses for adults are respiratory insufficiency/failure with ventilator support, acute myocardial infarction, intracranial hemorrhage or cerebral infarction, percutaneous cardiovascular procedures, and septicemia or severe sepsis without mechanical ventilation. Other conditions and procedures involving high ICU use are poisoning and toxic effects of drugs, pulmonary edema and respiratory failure, heart failure and shock, cardiac arrhythmia and conduction disorders, renal failure with major complication or comorbidity, gastrointestinal hemorrhage with complication or comorbidity, and diabetes with complication or comorbidity. The most common technological support is mechanical ventilation, required by 20%-40% of U.S. ICU admissions.

Pediatrics: Patients admitted to the pediatric ICU (PICU) may have either acute illness or acute exacerbations in the context of complex chronic conditions. Respiratory illnesses are the most common diagnoses. The median age of children admitted to the PICU ranges from less than 1 year to 1.9 years. The most common indications for admission to the PICU include respiratory disease, cardiac disease, and neurologic disorders. Children with developmental delay can make up to as many as 38% of PICU admissions. The LOS is greater than 7 days in more than 35%-40% of admitted patients, and more than 40% of PICU admissions require mechanical ventilation. Severe sepsis and septic shock are also common in PICUs, with a prevalence of more than 8% worldwide and a mortality rate of more than 24%.

Neonatal patients admitted to the neonatal ICU (NICU) are born either preterm or at term with serious medical or surgical conditions. While the majority of very-low-birth-weight (< 1500 g) newborns are cared for in NICUs, greater than half of NICU admissions were born at term and with normal birth weights. Outcomes are improved for high-risk newborns, especially preterm infants, born in facilities with a NICU. Mortality rates in NICUs range from 4% to 46% in developed countries and 0.2% to 64.4% in developing countries. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) defines a NICU as a facility able to provide newborn care with sustained life support, a full range of respiratory support, access to pediatric medical and surgical specialties, pediatric anesthesiologists, and pediatric ophthalmologists. The AAP defines the NICU in terms of four levels of care with increasing capabilities as the levels increase (level I: well-baby nursery, level 2: special-care nursery, levels III and IV: full ICU care).

Sources:

  • Barrett ML, Smith MW, Elixhauser A, Honigman LS, Pines JM. Utilization of intensive care services, 2011. Statistical Brief #185. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. November 2014. http://hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb185-Hospital-Intensive-Care-Units-2011.jsp. Accessed June 3, 2019.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit Admission of Infants with Very Low Birth Weight: 19 States, 2006. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2010 Nov 12;59(44):1444-1447. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5944a4.htm. Accessed June 3, 2019.
  • Chow S, Chow R, Popovic M, et al. A selected review of the mortality rates of neonatal intensive care units. Front Public Health. 2015 Oct 7;3:225.
  • Edwards JD, Houtrow AJ, Vasilevskis EE, et al. Chronic conditions among children admitted to U.S. pediatric intensive care units: their prevalence and impact on risk for mortality and prolonged length of stay. Crit Care Med. 2012 Jul;40(7):2196-2203.
  • Harrison W, Goodman D. Epidemiologic trends in neonatal intensive care, 2007-2012. JAMA Pediatr. 2015 Sep;169(9):855-862.
  • Hassan NE, Reischman DE, Fitzgerald RK, Faustino EVS; Prophylaxis Against Thrombosis Practice (PROTRACT) Study Investigators and the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI)/BloodNet Investigators. Hemoglobin levels across the pediatric critical care spectrum: a point prevalence study. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2018 May;19(5):e227-e234.
  • Kerklaan D, Fivez T, Mehta NM, et al. Worldwide survey of nutritional practices in PICUs. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2016 Jan;17(1):10-18.
  • Krmpotic K, Lobos AT. Clinical profile of children requiring early unplanned admission to the PICU. Hosp Pediatr. 2013 Jul;3(3):212-218.
  • Pollack MM, Holubkov R, Funai T, et al; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network. Pediatric intensive care outcomes: development of new morbidities during pediatric critical care. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2014 Nov;15(9):821-827.
  • Traube C, Silver G, Reeder RW, et al. Delirium in critically ill children: an international point prevalence study. Crit Care Med. 2017 Apr;45(4):584-590.
  • Weiss SL, Fitzgerald JC, Pappachan J, et al; Sepsis Prevalence, Outcomes, and Therapies (SPROUT) Study Investigators and Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI) Network. Global epidemiology of pediatric severe sepsis: the sepsis prevalence, outcomes, and therapies study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 May 15;191(10):1147-1157.
  • Wunsch H, Angus DC, Harrison DA, Linde-Zwirble WT, Rowan KM. Comparison of medical admissions to intensive care units in the United States and United Kingdom. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2011 Jun 15;183(12):1666-1673.
  • Wunsch H, Wagner J, Herlim M, Chong DH, Kramer AA, Halpern SD. ICU occupancy and mechanical ventilator use in the United States. Crit Care Med. 2013 Dec;41(12):2712-2719.

Intensive Care Unit Facilities
Data on U.S. ICU facilities are available from two national hospital databases: the American Hospital Association (AHA) Hospital Statistics system and the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Healthcare Cost Report Information System (HCRIS). AHA offers data on the number of ICU beds and units for adult (medical-surgical, cardiac, and other) and child (pediatric and neonatal) units as well as similar data for burn units and observation, step-down, or progressive beds. AHA offers no data on bed utilization. HCRIS offers bed and use data on adult (intensive care, coronary care, surgical/trauma, burn, psychiatric/detoxification) and child (pediatric and neonatal) beds (but not units). HCRIS data include U.S. government-based Medicare and Medicaid use. HCRIS has no data on observation, step-down, or progressive beds.

AHA data: According to the AHA 2015 annual survey, the United States had 4862 acute care registered hospitals; 2814 of these had at least 10 acute care beds and at least 1 ICU bed. These hospitals had a total of 540,668 staffed beds and 94,837 ICU beds (14.3% ICU beds/total beds) in 5229 ICUs. There were 46,490 medical-surgical beds in 2644 units, 14,731 cardiac beds in 976 units, 6588 other beds in 379 units, 4698 pediatric beds in 307 units, and 22,330 neonatal beds in 920 units. The median number of beds in medical-surgical, cardiac, and other units was 12, with 10 beds in pediatrics and 18 in neonatal. Fifty-two percent of hospitals had 1 unit, 24% had 2 units, and 24% had 3 or more units.

HCRIS data: In 2010 there were 2977 acute care hospitals with ICU beds. In these, there were 641,395 total acute care beds with 103,900 ICU beds (16.2% ICU beds/total beds). From 2000 to 2010, the number of critical care beds in the United States increased by 17.8%, from 88,235 to 103,900. However, the majority of the growth in critical care bed supply is occurring in a small number of U.S. regions that tend to have large populations, fewer baseline ICUs per 100,000 capita, higher baseline ICU occupancy, and increased market competition. Additionally, between 2000 and 2010, the greatest percentage increases were in neonatal beds (29%), followed by adult beds (26%); there were minimal changes in pediatric beds (2.7%). Of the 103,900 ICU beds in 2010, 83,417 (80.3%) were adult, 1917 (1.8%) were pediatric, and 18,567 (17.9%) were neonatal. In total, there were 33.6 beds per 100,000 population, 35.5 beds per 100,000 adult beds (age > 18 years), 2.7 beds/100,000 pediatric beds (age 1-17 years), and 470 beds/100,000 neonatal beds (age < 1 year).

ICU days: HCRIS analysis showed that there were 150.9 million hospital days, including 25 million ICU days in 2010 (16.5% ICU days/total days). Medicare accounted for 7.9 million ICU days (31.4%) and Medicaid 4.3 million ICU days (17.2%).

Occupancy: Occupancy rates were calculated from HCRIS (days/possible days) data. In 2010, hospital and ICU occupancy rates were 64.6% and 68%, respectively. Occupancy rates vary by hospital size, with higher occupancy rates associated with larger hospitals.

Sources:

  • American Hospital Association. AHA Hospital Statistics. 2017 edition. Chicago, IL: American Hospital Association; 2017.
  • Carr BG, Addyson DK, Kahn JM. Variation in critical care beds per capita in the United States: implications for pandemic and disaster planning. JAMA. 2010 Apr 14;303(14):1371-1372.
  • Halpern NA, Goldman DA, Tan KS, Pastores SM. Trends in critical care beds and use among population groups and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in the United States: 2000-2010. Crit Care Med. 2016 Aug;44(8):1490-1499.
  • Halpern NA, Pastores SM. Critical Care Medicine Beds, Use, Occupancy, and Costs in the United States: A Methodological Review. Crit Care Med. 2015 Nov;43(11):2452-9.
  • Halpern NA, Pastores SM, Thaler HT, Greenstein RJ. Changes in critical care beds and occupancy in the United States 1985-2000: Differences attributable to hospital size. Crit Care Med. 2006 Aug;34(8):2105-12.
  • Odetola FO, Clark SJ, Freed GL, Bratton SL, Davis MM. A national survey of pediatric critical care resources in the United States. Pediatrics. 2005 Apr;115(4):e382-e386.
  • Wallace DJ, Angus DC, Seymour CW, Barnato AE, Kahn JM. Critical care bed growth in the United States. A comparison of regional and national trends. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 Feb;191(4):410-416.

Length of Stay
ICU LOS has been estimated at 3.8 days in the United States. However, it varies depending on patient and ICU attributes.

Morbidity and Mortality
Despite an increasing age and severity of illness in ICU patients, there was a 35% relative decrease in mortality for ICU admissions from 1988 to 2012. The leading causes of death in the ICU are multiorgan failure, cardiovascular failure, and sepsis. Sepsis affects more than 1.7 million people in the United States and is the leading cause of death in U.S. hospitals, accounting for 270,000 deaths annually. It is also the major cause of readmissions to the hospital within 30 days, costing more than $2 billion annually. Of patients who are diagnosed with sepsis, up to 51% develop acute renal failure, and up to 20% have acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilatory support. More than 75,000 children develop sepsis each year and 6800 of these children die.

Overall, mortality rates in patients admitted to adult ICUs average 10% to 29%, depending on age, comorbidities, and illness severity. The mortality rate for patients who have been admitted to the ICU is greater for the next 10 years after they leave the ICU compared with patients of the same age who have never been admitted to the ICU. The overall mortality rate for pediatric ICU patients ranges from 2% to 6%.

Sources:

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trend tables. Table 19. Leading causes of death and numbers of deaths, by sex, race, and Hispanic origin: United States, 1980 and 2016. 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2017/019.pdf. Accessed June 4, 2019.
  • Dombrovskiy VY, Martin AA, Sunderram J, Paz HL. Rapid increase in hospitalization and mortality rates for severe sepsis in the United States: a trend analysis from 1993 to 2003. Crit Care Med. 2007 May;35(5):1244-1250.
  • Hartman ME, Linde-Zwirble WT, Angus DC, Watson RS. Trends in the epidemiology of pediatric severe sepsis. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2013 Sep;14(7):686-93.
  • Levy MM, Dellinger RP, Townsend SR, et al. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign: results of an international guideline-based performance improvement program targeting severe sepsis. Intensive Care Med. 2010 Feb;36(2):222-231.
  • Randolph AG, McCulloh RJ. Pediatric sepsis: important considerations for diagnosing and managing severe infections in infants, children, and adolescents. Virulence. 2014 Jan 1;5(1):179-189.
  • Rhee C, Dantes R, Epstein L, et al; CDC Prevention Epicenter Program. Incidence and trends of sepsis in US hospitals using clinical vs claims data, 2009-2014. JAMA. 2017 Oct 3;318(13):1241-1249.
  • Torio CM, Moore BJ. National inpatient hospital costs: the most expensive conditions by payer, 2013. Statistical Brief #204. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. May 2016. https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb204-Most-Expensive-Hospital-Conditions.pdf. Accessed June 4, 2019.
  • Weiss SL, Fitzgerald JC, Pappachan J, et al; Sepsis Prevalence, Outcomes, and Therapies (SPROUT) Study Investigators and Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI) Network. Global epidemiology of pediatric severe sepsis: the sepsis prevalence, outcomes, and therapies study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 May 15;191(10):1147-1157.
  • Wunsch H, Guerra C, Barnato AE, Angus DC, Li G, Linde-Zwirble WT. Three-year outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries who survive intensive care. JAMA. 2010 Mar 3;303(9):849-856.
  • Zimmerman JE, Kramer AA, Knaus WA. Changes in hospital mortality for United States intensive care unit admissions from 1988 to 2012. Crit Care. 2013 Apr 27;17(2):R81.

Staffing and Salaries
The multidisciplinary ICU team may consist of critical care nurses, APPs (nurse practitioners and physician assistants), intensivists, hospitalists, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, nutritionists, social workers, and other professionals. Challenges exist in defining these groups and obtaining data. For example, an intensivist can be defined as a physician formally trained in critical care, with or without CCM board certification, and working in the ICU with variable time commitments. However, a hospitalist, without formal CCM training, may be privileged to deliver CCM care. ICU nurses are easily identified; however, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) does not keep a global database. Similar problems exist in determining total numbers of respiratory therapists and pharmacists and those who work primarily in the ICU. Salaries are similarly difficult to determine because they vary greatly by experience, location, type of hospital and work model, and of course public reporting.

CCM nurses: According to Connie Barden, Chief Clinical Officer of the AACN, the critical care nurse universe is approximately 512,000 (figure derived from National Council of State Boards of Nursing 2017 RN Practice Analysis, State of Nursing 2016 Whitepaper [nursing.org], and the 2015 National Nursing Workforce Survey [J Nurs Regul. 2016;7:S1-S90]). Salaries for critical care nurses range from $66,316 to $79,962, but these salaries vary widely depending on education, certifications, additional skills, and number of years spent in the profession.

APPs: Estimates suggest that more than 29,700 acute care nurse practitioners and 1500 physician assistants practice critical care in the United States. Mean salaries were estimated at $122,432 for acute care nurse practitioners, and $122,957 for physician assistants.

Intensivists: AHA data for 2015 suggested that there were approximately 29,000 privileged intensivists in the United States, accounting for 20,000 full-time-equivalent intensivists. American Medical Group Association physician compensation data shows that median compensation for intensivists in 2017 was $400,000; Medscape Intensivist Compensation Report 2018 lists this figure as $354,000.

Respiratory therapists: The most recent (2016) data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a national total of 130,200 respiratory therapists. Their median salary is $59,710.

ICU pharmacists: In 2012, a task force of critical care pharmacists sponsored by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, American Pharmacists Association, and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) estimated that there were 6000-7000 practicing critical care pharmacists in the United States with an estimated mean annual salary of $125,000. A 2011 ASHP national survey showed that pharmacists were assigned to critical care in 68.8% of U.S. hospitals.

Sources:


Workforce Update
Three committees from SCCM evaluated the critical care field’s continued emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in the critical care workforce, and pitfalls exposed by the pandemic. This update covers critical care training across multiple professions including physicians, advanced practice providers (APPs), pharmacists, and respiratory therapists (RTs). Read the full update here.

Growth in Graduate Medical Education Positions
Data compiled from both the National Residency Match Program and the SF Match have shown increases in programs offering training positions in critical care medicine. The ratio of applicants per position has remained steady across all training programs with the increased number of open positions available, with a higher ratio of applicants per position for newer, stand-alone critical care medicine training programs. According to data from the American Association of Medical Colleges, there has been an overall increase in critical care physicians, from 13,093 in 2020 to 14,159 in 2022. A smaller increase occurred in pediatric critical care physicians in that same time period, from 2639 physicians to 2774.
 
Growth in Critical Care Pharmacy Programs
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Resident Matching Program data shows continued growth in available critical care PGY2 programs and positions. In 2019, there were 143 programs with 189 positions available; in 2023 these numbers increased to 173 programs with 223 positions available. Between 2016 and 2020, the number of board-certified critical care pharmacists increased from 532 to 2873. This number is projected to reach nearly 5200 by the year 2025. Despite this consistent growth, the number of board-certified critical care pharmacists remains relatively low when considering the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds reported in the United States. While there is a recommended practitioner-to-patient ratio for intensivists (1:14), there is no recommended pharmacist-to-patient ratio, although the consensus is approximately 1:15. Recent surveys have shown that many critical care pharmacists report ratios higher than this, even as high as 1:30.
 
Growth in Critical Care Advanced Practice Programs
The 2022 Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that there are about 30,000 nurse practitioners (NP) currently practicing in critical care. Approximately 2071 physician assistants (PA) identified their primary practice as critical care medicine and 144 identified it as pediatric critical care medicine. However, this likely underestimates the number due to PAs identifying with their department rather than their practice setting (i.e., surgery or anesthesia). There are a total of 249 accredited advanced practice registered nurse (RN)/RN programs, and there are 46 postgraduate NP/PA training programs under the labels of acute care or critical care/emergency medicine. A total of 15 postgraduate clinical programs have been accredited, with two programs specifically in critical care medicine, although the Association of Postgraduate PA Programs lists a total of 16 critical care medicine PA residency programs. A 2021 survey identified 249 PAs who had completed postgraduate training in critical care.
 
Growth in Respiratory Therapy Programs
It is estimated that 92,474 RTs will leave the field by the year 2030. Compounded with the decline in enrollment in RT programs by 27% since 2010 and full enrollment in only 10% of programs,. Innovations in mechanical ventilators and investments to improve patient care procedures (e.g., arterial blood gases, aerosol therapy, bronchoscopy) were all reported as vital to the success and retention of RTs in the future.
 
Effects of the Pandemic and Burnout on the Critical Care Workforce
100,000 RNs left the profession during the COVID-19 pandemic and an estimated 800,000 intend to follow by 2027. A national study of 20,665 U.S. healthcare practitioners found an attrition rate of 2 in 5 for nurses and 1 in 5 for physicians leaving their practice altogether. Turnover was highest among health aids and assistants, followed by licensed practical nurses and licensed vocational nurses. This shortage is especially prevalent in critical care, with an estimated 27% of critical care nurses leaving the profession worldwide, reflected in unstaffed ICU beds, ongoing delays in delivery of patient care, and increased work burden on critical care practitioners. An estimated 35% to 45% of nurses and 40% to 54% of physicians in the United States have burnout, with U.S. intensivists experiencing the highest burnout rates, at 25% to 71%.

Sources

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  • SF Match. Residency and Fellowship Matching Services. Accessed October 3, 2023. https://sfmatch.org/specialties
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Thanks to Neil A. Halpern, MD, MCCM, for contributing and updating this information. Dr. Halpern is a member of the editorial board of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Halpern is Director of the Critical Care Center and Chief, Critical Care Medicine Service, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.