Stroke in long-term intensive care unit

Abstract

Aim: Long-term acute care hospitals (LTACH) provide specialized care for patients recovering from severe acute diseasesand for chronic and critically ill patients; who need long-term ventilatory support. This study aimed to investigate the factorsaffecting the length of stay of stroke patients in our long-term intensive care unit (LTICU).Material and Method: This retrospective study included 200 stroke patients; who were followed up in the LTICU. Demographiccharacteristics, comorbid diseases, and culture results of patients were examined as variables and the effects of these variableson the length of intensive care unit stay were analyzed.Result: Of the patients; the mean age was 79 (41-99) years, 99 (49.5%) were males, and the mean length of stay was 46 (7-463)days. The length of stay in LTICU was significantly long in stroke patients with a tracheostomy and positive growth in urinecultures (p=0.013, p=0.018). The length of stay was significantly short in patients; who received total parenteral nutrition(TPN) (p