General
rule of five
What does rule of five mean?
Old ICU bedside rule, half joke half observation. Count the tubes — ET tube, NG, catheter, drains, central lines — once you're past five orifices plumbed in, the patient's odds of leaving the unit alive drop off a cliff. Not in any textbook, but every intensivist who's done a few years nods at it.
"He's intubated, NG, two chest drains and a catheter — we're one line off the Rule of Five."
Origin
ICU folklore, Anglo-American.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Rule of Five in medicine?
It's a piece of dark clinical humour: if more than five orifices have tubing in them, the patient won't make it.
How do you use the Rule of Five in a sentence?
"By the Rule of Five, this one's not looking good — that's the sixth tube."
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