Nighttime intensivist staffing: is there evidence for a need?

Postoperative critical care provided by critical care specialists, or intensivists, improves outcomes after surgery. Although there are data supporting daytime intensivist coverage in the intensive care unit, it is not clear how nighttime specialist coverage impacts the quality of care or outcomes. Many surgical intensive care units have adopted continuous 24-hour critical care coverage. Here, we highlight an important study by Wallace and colleagues that reports the impact of nighttime intensivist staffing on outcomes in critically ill patients.
(Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Inc.)