The PreVent Trial, Assessing the Role of Bag-mask Ventilation During Tracheal Intubation in Critically Ill Adults
In this "Breathe Easy Critical Perspective" podcast, Dr. Dominique Pepper interviews Dr. Matthew Semler. They discuss the PreVent trial, a recent publication in the 2019 issue of the NEJM that assessed the role of bag-mask... read more
Muscle Atrophy in Mechanically-ventilated Critically Ill Children
In children receiving invasive mechanical ventilation, diaphragm and other skeletal muscle atrophy is common and rapid. Increasing age and TBI may increase severity of limb muscle atrophy. Prospective studies are required... read more
Improved Guideline Adherence and Reduced Brain Dysfunction After a Multicenter Multifaceted Implementation of ICU Delirium Guidelines in 3,930 Patients
This large pre-post implementation study of delirium-oriented measures based on the 2013 Pain, Agitation, and Delirium guidelines showed improved health professionals’ adherence to delirium guidelines and reduced brain... read more
Did I Start the Opioid Epidemic?
Prescription opioid abuse is at epidemic levels. Opioids diverted from friends and family members who have legitimate prescriptions are a major source of abused prescription opioids. Nurses are vital to any effort to combat... read more
In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope
In Shock is a riveting first-hand account from a young critical care physician, who in the passage of a moment is transfigured into a dying patient. This transposition, coincidentally timed at the end of her medical training,... read more
Design and Implementation of a Pediatric ICU Acuity Scoring Tool as Clinical Decision Support
Pediatric in-hospital cardiac arrest most commonly occurs in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and is frequently preceded by early warning signs of clinical deterioration. In this study, we describe the implementation... read more
Antibiotic timing in Severe Sepsis
Severe sepsis is a time dependent condition and this study builds on previous literature which supports that early identification and treatment of sepsis with antibiotics decreases mortality. Retrospective analysis of a large... read more
RRT Board Exam: Dominate the Hemodynamic and ECG Portion of the Respiratory Therapy Board Exam
Our RRT Board exam series helps you study smarter, not harder. Instead of giving you information overload, we focus solely on the most recent NBRC TMC and clinical simulation exam matrix. Start feeling more confident and... read more
Fever Control in Critically Ill Adults
One potential way to protect patients from the physiological demands that are a consequence of fever is to aim to prevent fever and to treat it assiduously when it occurs. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that more... read more
Optimizing Hemodynamic Support in Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock, An Issue of Critical Care Clinics
Guest Editor Dane Nichols, MD, has assembled a panel of experts focusing on Hemodynamic Support in Septic Shock. Topics include: Oxygen Delivery and Consumption: A Macro-Circulatory Perspective; Mean Arterial Pressure: Therapeutic... read more
Hospital Elder Life Program: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Effectiveness
The Hospital Elder Life Program is effective in reducing incidence of delirium and rate of falls, with a trend toward decreasing length of stay and preventing institutionalization. With ongoing efforts in continuous program... read more
ICU Utilization for Patients With Acute Exacerbation of COPD Receiving Noninvasive Ventilation
There is wide variability in the rate of ICU utilization for noninvasive ventilation across hospitals. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients receiving noninvasive ventilation had similar in-hospital mortality... read more
Why Do Bleeding Trauma Patients Die?
It is important that we recognize that we have seen a reduction in the number of deaths from trauma. That's a great thing of course, but we should not be complacent. It's also worth looking at where and how patients die.... read more
Neuro ICU Nurse Tips for Newbies
This episode discusses a few diseases processes that are typically seen by the neuro ICU nurse as well as a neuro floor. We chat about subdural hematomas, epidural hematomas, seizures, brain tumors, and diffuse axonal injury.... read more
Did This Health Care Policy Do Harm?
A well-intentioned program created by the Affordable Care Act may have led to patient deaths. No patient leaves the hospital hoping to return soon. But a decade ago, one in five Medicare patients who were hospitalized for... read more
DeepSOFA: A Continuous Acuity Score for Critically Ill Patients using Clinically Interpretable Deep Learning
Traditional methods for assessing illness severity and predicting in-hospital mortality among critically ill patients require time-consuming, error-prone calculations using static variable thresholds. These methods do not... read more
Number Needed to Treat
Effectively communicating clinical trial results to patients and clinicians is a requirement for appropriate application in clinical practice. In a recent issue of JAMA, Zhao et al1 reported the results from a randomized... read more
UV Light Reduces Hospital-acquired Infections
A new study published in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) shows that ultraviolet (UV) disinfection technology, called PurpleSun, eliminates up to 97.7 percent of pathogens in the operating room (OR). Using... read more
Prehospital Intravenous Fentanyl Administered by Ambulance Personnel
Prehospital acute pain is a frequent symptom that is often inadequately managed. The concerns of opioid induced side effects are well-founded. To ensure patient safety, ambulance personnel are therefore provided with treatment... read more
Catheter-Directed Therapy for PE Built on Fallacy
Tissue plasminogen activator has a notoriously checkered past within emergency medicine, and its controversial use continues with the advent of targeted therapy for pulmonary embolism. Catheter-directed administration of... read more
Flu Has Sickened More Than 13 Million This Season
The CDC estimates that there have been 13.2 million to 15.2 million flu illnesses this season. The CDC estimates there have been 6.2 million to 7.2 million flu medical visits and 155,000 to 186,000 flu hospitalizations this... read more
Effect of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy in adults with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure
Conflicting recommendations exist on whether high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen therapy should be administered to adult patients in critical care with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. We performed a meta-analysis of... read more
