Traditionally much of the focus in intensive care has been on the clinical aspects, such as novel drugs therapies and technology improvements to facilitate organ support. Yet the goal of delivering high-quality care requires intensive care physicians to engage more broadly in aspects of patient care that go beyond the bedside. This requires a comprehensive understanding of the key principles underlying effective intensive care unit (ICU) organisation and management.

This module provides an introduction to ICU organisation. It acquaints the reader with generic concepts helpful to the understanding of the organisational environment within which the ICU physician-managers or leaders function, provides tools that can used on a day-to-day basis (e.g. planning, organising, decision-making, staffing, controlling, motivating, leading, directing) and offers a basis for further study in the field of healthcare management. Many of the principles outlined in this module relate to generic organisational and leadership practices, with citations from classic healthcare literature. The authors fully acknowledge that cultural differences do exist but these differences should not override universal standards of good healthcare practices that are to deliver safe, effective, efficient, and patient-centred care. Where possible, research studies relating to contemporary healthcare management on pragmatic issues of concern to intensive care physicians have been included. As research into some of these topics still remains ‘novel’, this module also uses non-healthcare literature to include lessons from industry, which we believe are applicable to intensive care.