[Therapeutic healthcare professional staffing requirements in intensive care units].

BACKGROUND

Therapeutic healthcare professionals in the multiprofessional intensive care unit (ICU) team are important for early mobilization, dysphagia therapy, and psychosocial care of critically ill patients.

OBJECTIVE

Despite the high relevance of therapeutic healthcare professions for care in ICUs, there are no recommendations on the specific staffing of therapists in ICUs.

RESULTS

Considering the main areas of activity of the individual professional groups and based on productivity time, a requirements analysis for staffing ICUs of different care levels with physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and psychologists was performed. For every 10 beds in the highest care level (LoC3), 1.28 full-time equivalent (FTE) physiotherapists, 0.91 FTE occupational therapists and speech therapists, and 0.80 FTE psychologists should be employed.

CONCLUSION

In order to implement multiprofessional patient treatment and support for relatives in the ICU, it is essential to employ a proportionate number of therapeutic healthcare professionals.