Nursing Activities Score at Discharge from the Intensive Care Unit Is Associated with Unplanned Readmission to the Intensive Care Unit

This study evaluated the accuracy of predicting unplanned the intensive care unit (ICU) readmission using the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) at ICU discharge based on nursing workloads, and compared it to the accuracy of the prediction made using the Stability and Workload Index for Transfer (SWIFT) score. Patients admitted to the ICU of Sapporo Medical University Hospital between April 2014 and December 2017 were included, and unplanned ICU readmissions were retrospectively evaluated using the SWIFT score and the NAS. Patient characteristics, such as age, sex, the Charlson Comorbidity Index, and sequential organ failure assessment score at ICU admission, were used as covariates, and logistic regression analysis was performed to calculate the odds ratios for the SWIFT score and NAS. Among 599 patients, 58 (9.7%) were unexpectedly readmitted to the ICU. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of NAS (0.78) was higher than that of the SWIFT score (0.68), and cutoff values were 21 for the SWIFT and 53 for the NAS. Multivariate analysis showed that the NAS was an independent predictor of unplanned ICU readmission. The NAS was superior to the SWIFT in predicting unplanned ICU readmission. NAS may be an adjunctive tool to predict unplanned ICU readmission.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the accuracy of predicting unplanned ICU readmission using the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) at ICU discharge and compared it to the Accuracy of the prediction made using the Stability and Workload Index for Transfer (SWIFT) score. The study found that NAS was superior to SWIFT in predicting unplanned ICU readmission. Therefore, NAS may be an effective tool for predicting unplanned ICU readmission.