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Multidisciplinary care teams lower the risk of death in medical ICUs. Adding an intensivist lowers the risk even more, reveals a study in the February 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Analysis of hospital records pertaining to 107,324 patients admitted to noncardiac, nonsurgical ICUs treating adults in 112 acute care hospitals found that hospitals using intensivists and multidisciplinary teams (comprising a physician; a nurse; and another health care worker, such as a social worker, respiratory therapist, or pharmacist) reduced the odds of death at 30 days after admission by 22%, compared with hospitals not using intensivists or multidisciplinary teams. Moreover, intensivist staffing or multidisciplinary teams alone lowered the risk by 16% each. There is, however, a shortage of intensivists, and in the absence of intensivist staffing, the study suggests, the use of multidisciplinary teams is a good alternative.