NIK: There is a shortage of specialists in anaesthesiology and intensive care

Most hospitals in Podkarpacie were audited by the Supreme Audit Office. The Chamber has reservations about almost everything. More specialists, medical equipment and beds are needed.

In most hospitals, the Supreme Audit Office found cases where one doctor anesthetized two patients at the same time or left patients unattended in the anesthesiology and intensive care unit (ICU) to anesthetize patient in the operating theater (BO). The data on anaesthesiologists who worked at the ICU and operating theaters for several days without a break are also disturbing. In an extreme case, the contract doctor worked continuously for 288 hours , or 12 days. He worked and on duty alternately in the hospital emergency ward (HED), in the ward of anesthesiology and intensive care, and in the resuscitation ambulance. Anesthesiologists in four other hospitals - Strzyżów, Tarnobrzeg, Mielec and Leżajsk also found themselves in a similar situation. In some cases they worked 78 to 152 hours non-stop.

NIK also has reservations about the medical documentation of patients being prepared. The inspection shows that in many cases it was conducted unfairly.

NIK conclusions

To the Minister of Health for:

• clarification of § 9 point 2 of the AiIT Standards Regulation by indicating the situations in which emergency communication relates and the necessary elements of this procedure;
• supplementing § 14 of this regulation by indicating the requirement of a written form of quality assessment of health services provided at the ICU.

To the directors of controlled hospitals to provide:

• constant presence of a specialist in anaesthesiology and intensive care in ICU, also during night, holiday and weekend shifts, who cannot combine work in ICU with providing services elsewhere;
• the organizational standard for the provision of health services in the field of anesthesia, which requires an anesthesiologist to anesthetize only one patient for the procedure at a time;
• an appropriate number of beds in the ICU, constituting at least 2% of the total number of beds in a hospital;
• reliably keep complete, legally required, medical records of patients;
• timely technical inspections of medical apparatus and equipment that are the equipment of the ICU and BO.

Source: NIK