When is Patient Feedback Valid? Supporting Patient Feedback as a Catalyst for Change

When is Patient Feedback Valid? Supporting Patient Feedback as a Catalyst for Change

As part of the revalidation process, doctors must collect patient feedback at least once every five years. While it is encouraging to see patient feedback included in this process, questions must be asked about what message,... read more

Recommendations on the Use of Ultrasound Guidance for Adult Thoracentesis

Recommendations on the Use of Ultrasound Guidance for Adult Thoracentesis

The use of ultrasound guidance for thoracentesis has been associated with increased success rates and decreased complication rates. Ultrasound can be used to estimate the pleural fluid volume, characterize the effusion as... read more

Optimizing Patient and Family Education Resources for the ICU

Optimizing Patient and Family Education Resources for the ICU

Offering stronger patient and family education tools in the ICU will ease patient and caregiver fears and make them more comfortable with the care setting. An integrated, centralized, and digital platform is best suited for... read more

The Psychological Impact of Intensive Care

The Psychological Impact of Intensive Care

A period in intensive care is known to negatively affect patients' long term physical, cognitive and psychiatric health, in what's known as post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). Researchers from the University of Oxford sought... read more

50 States Ranked by Amount of Active Nurses

50 States Ranked by Amount of Active Nurses

California contains the most professionally active registered nurses in the U.S. with 337,738 RNs, according to a ranking from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The ranking is based on October 2018 data compiled by Redi-Data... read more

Partial Pressure of Oxygen and Neurological Outcome in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patients

Partial Pressure of Oxygen and Neurological Outcome in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patients

Following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), patients regularly suffer from post cardiac arrest syndrome including symptoms of anoxic brain injury and reperfusion-related damage. Hyperoxemia or hypoxemia exposure occurred... read more

Systematic Review of the Effects of ICU Noise on Sleep of Healthy Subjects and the Critically Ill

Systematic Review of the Effects of ICU Noise on Sleep of Healthy Subjects and the Critically Ill

ICU patients exhibit disturbed sleeping patterns, often attributed to environmental noise, although the relative contribution of noise compared to other potentially disrupting factors is often debated. We therefore systematically... read more

ICU RN Job Dissatisfaction, Burnout Linked to Moral Distress

ICU RN Job Dissatisfaction, Burnout Linked to Moral Distress

Job satisfaction and practice environment are associated with moral distress among critical care nurses, according to a study published online Jan. 3 in the American Journal of Critical Care. The researchers found that 56... read more

Host Genetic Variants in Sepsis Risk

Host Genetic Variants in Sepsis Risk

Published data revealed that host genetic variants have a substantial influence on sepsis susceptibility. However, the results have been inconsistent. We aimed to systematically review the published studies and quantitatively... read more

A Framework for Increasing Trust Between Patients and the Organizations That Care for Them

A Framework for Increasing Trust Between Patients and the Organizations That Care for Them

Trust matters in health care. It makes patients feel less vulnerable, clinicians feel more effective, and reduces the imbalances of information by improving the flow of information. Trust is so fundamental to the patient-physician... read more

Sepsis Incidence and Mortality are Underestimated in Australian ICU Administrative Data

Sepsis Incidence and Mortality are Underestimated in Australian ICU Administrative Data

When compared with the reference standard — prospective clinical diagnosis — ANZICS CORE database criteria significantly underestimate the incidence of sepsis and overestimate the incidence of septic shock, and also result... read more

Benzodiazepine Use and Neuropsychiatric Outcomes in the ICU

Benzodiazepine Use and Neuropsychiatric Outcomes in the ICU

The majority of included studies indicated that benzodiazepine use in the ICU is associated with delirium, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and cognitive dysfunction. Future well-designed studies... read more

Effect of Thiamine Administration on Lactate Clearance and Mortality in Patients With Septic Shock

Effect of Thiamine Administration on Lactate Clearance and Mortality in Patients With Septic Shock

Thiamine administration within 24 hours of admission in patients presenting with septic shock was associated with improved lactate clearance and a reduction in 28-day mortality compared with matched controls. Patients who... read more

Corticosteroid Treatment in Critically Ill Patients with Severe Influenza Pneumonia

Corticosteroid Treatment in Critically Ill Patients with Severe Influenza Pneumonia

Administration of corticosteroids in patients with severe influenza pneumonia is associated with increased ICU mortality, and these agents should not be used as co‑adjuvant therapy. A total of 1846 patients with primary... read more