Zoning ICU's For Desigantion of Pt's

[gonurseman]

Has anyone worked in an ICU where the unit is zoned (i.e. red/green/yellow) where patient placement is based on diagnosis, criticality of illness, safety risk and stability of patients? Where sicker patients and fall-risk patients are closer to the nursing station, and stable/transfer/observation patients are further away from the nursing station, allowing for a quieter sleep environment? Do you cluster neuro/stroke patients away from cardiac patients? Just looking for input on how your organization works and any input you may have with a zoned ICU based on said factors. Does it improve patient satisfaction? Does it reduce falls?

[idodialysis]

Don't know the answer but it seems like a great idea!

[Nalon1 RN/EMT-P, BSN, RN]

The ICU I worked in was a smaller general unit (12 beds) so we had no such designation.

Problem with this is in an ideal world this sounds great, but real world as beds fill, pts get stuck wherever there is room, regardless of what "zone" they are supposed to be in. So over time you end up with fall patients in the back area and stable patients by the nurses station. Only way to fix it is to either move patients (a major pain and reduces pt satisfaction) or once the unit clears out some can be straighted out.

[ICUNurseG]

This sounds great, but I have to agree with the point that patient flow wouldn't allow for zoning to be optimal. I work in a 24 bed MICU and we have certain rooms with dialysis and one room for remote fetal monitoring. As much as we try to leave those rooms available for what they're made for, it doesn't always happen. For example, if the RN open for admission is in an area where the only room available is a dialysis room, that's where the patient goes, regardless or whether or not the pt is on dialysis.