Impact of the opening of a specialized cardiac surgery recovery unit on postoperative outcomes in an academic health sciences centre.

Purpose It is controversial as to whether cardiac surgery patients are optimally managed in a mixed medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) or in a specialized postoperative unit. We conducted a prospective cohort study in an academic health sciences centre to compare outcomes before and following the opening of a specialized cardiac surgery recovery unit (CSRU) in April 2005.