Learning from errors: unnecessary intensive care unit admissions.

An elderly man was transferred to our emergency department with reported ventricular tachycardia requiring intravenous amiodarone and intensive care unit admission. Device interrogation, the following day, revealed only frequent premature ventricular contractions and non-sustained ventricular tachycardia in a patient with a known history of these conditions. The patient underwent unnecessary invasive monitoring after being emergently transferred to our facility and admitted to the intensive care unit. Fortunately, our patient did not suffer any unwarranted side effects from intravenous amiodarone. This case reports on some negative consequences of inappropriate intensive care unit admissions and how they could have been avoided. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.