Performance of intensive care units in North Lebanon hospitals

Abstract

Background - The intensive care unit (ICU) in any hospital is a very important and critical department. It provides treatment to patients with very serious health conditions. The reputation of any hospital is highly affected by the reputation of this unit particularly. Hence, it is the priority of the hospital to monitor its ICU operation. Purpose - The purpose of this research is to investigate peoples perception about performance of North Lebanon Intensive Care Units. For this to be done, several quality factors were assessed ranging from nurses and doctors competency, to patients family satisfaction. Methodology used – A questionnaire was developed and distributed in six hospitals in North Lebanon, to help us conduct our research. After collecting data, the results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and linear regression. Findings - The testing methods showed that physicians communication with patient families, communication between ICU staff, equipment performance, patients service provided, and family satisfaction explain the perception of ICU performance. Research limitation – The limitation of this research was that it was very specific in terms of the topic and the limited time we had, or else we could have chosen a larger sample of hospitals. Practical implications: This paper provides hospitals and insurance companies with several guidelines and recommendations that should be followed in order to improve the ICU performance, and hence their reputation.