Table 3

Descriptive characteristics of the pre- and post-FASTHUG time frames


2003–2004 n = 1315 patients
2005–2007 n = 1653 patients
p-value

Age (mean ± sd)
58.5 ± 17.9
59.3 ± 17.2
0.23
Sex (%)


0.57
Male
40.2
39.2

Female
59.8
60.8

Race (%)


0.86
Whites
78.9
79.1

Other
21.1
20.9

LOS (mean ± sd)
13.6 ± 16.1
12.3 ± 13.2
0.07
SICU Days (mean)
7.5
7.7
0.65
MDC


0.91
Respiratory
7.88
7.14

Circulatory
33.16
32.39

Digestive
12.78
14.10

Kidney/Urology
12.85
8.35

Nervous
5.86
7.20

SOI (%)


0.001
Minor
10.1
8.5

Moderate
30.3
26.3

Major
31.5
32.0

Extreme
28.1
33.2


LOS = hospital length of stay; SICU = surgical intensive care; MDC = major diagnostic categories; and SOI = severity of illness. P-value < 0.05 is considered statistically significant.

Papadimos et al. Patient Safety in Surgery 2008 2:3   doi:10.1186/1754-9493-2-3