Developing an ICU Diary in the Pediatric ICU
Todd Fraser, MD, speaks with Jenny Tcharmtchi, BSN, RN, CCRN, about the article, "Family Experience in the PICU," published in Critical Connections, the Society of Critical Care Medicine's newsletter. Ms. Tcharmtchi... read more
Enhancing the Usability of Systematic Reviews by Improving the Consideration and Description of Interventions
The importance of adequate intervention descriptions in minimizing research waste and improving research usability and reproducibility has gained attention in the past few years. Nearly all focus to date has been on intervention... read more
Guidelines for the Provision and Assessment of Nutrition Support Therapy in the Pediatric Critically Ill Patient
This document represents the first collaboration between two organizations, American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, to describe best practices in nutrition therapy in... read more
Critical Care Reviews Book 2017 (Free eBook)
The 2017 Critical Care Reviews Book seeks to summarize, critique and put in context the best critical care trials of 2016. Five intensivsts working in Northern Ireland have spent the past year writing this edition. This is... read more
Web-based ICU Communication Improves Patient Experience and Outcomes
Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have developed a web-based program that uses team communication and engagement to improve patient experience and outcomes. The study enrolled 1,075 ICU patients and provided... read more
Why are doctors plagued by depression and suicide?
Suicide among medical students and doctors has been a largely unacknowledged phenomenon for decades, obscured by secrecy and shame. Now, it’s beginning to emerge from the shadows. More than 62,000 people, many of them medical... read more
A part of patient care that I was not taught in medical school
How physicians express condolences. Recently, I’ve been thinking about how physicians express condolences. This weekend, I attended calling hours to visit with the family of a recently deceased patient. As I drove back... read more
New Diagnostic Tests: More Harm Than Good
Although new diagnostics may advance the time of diagnoses in selected patients, they will increase the frequency of false alarms, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment in others. Bjorn Hofmann and H. Gilbert Welch explain how... read more
Reduced Risk of Acute Exacerbation of COPD after Bariatric Surgery
Obesity is common among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and associated with increased COPD morbidities. However, little is known about the impact of weight reduction on COPD-related outcomes... read more
Preoperative Cognitive Performance and Delirium Associated With Future Dementia in Older People After Cardiac Surgery
Delirium after cardiac surgery commonly, occurs in 25–67 percent of patients. Delirium is a neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by a change in cognition fluctuates, develops over a short period of time and has an underlying... read more
In Treating Sepsis, Questions About Timing and Mandates
The question of whether Rory's Regulations save lives isn’t asked or answered in the recent study. Sepsis deaths were already decreasing in the United States before the mandate, and determining its contribution to... read more
Organ Dysfunction, Injury and Failure in Acute Heart Failure
Managing patients with AHF remains a clinical challenge and current therapies have uncertain impacts on long-term morbidity and mortality. The use of therapies that prevent or reverse congestion-induced organ injury may represent... read more
Why Point-of-Care Ultrasound Should be a Mainstay in EMS
A former firefighter/EMT turned medical student describes the functional components, diagnostic uses and roadblocks of using this imaging technology. From the first enormous and hefty ultrasound scanners, circa 1965, to today's... read more
Effectiveness and Safety of Magnesium Replacement in Critically Ill Patients Admitted to the ICU
Rules of thumb for the replacement of electrolytes, including magnesium, in critical care settings are used, despite minimal empirical validation of their ability to achieve a target serum concentration. This study's... read more
NAM Goes Public with Efforts to Combat Burnout
The National Academy of Medicine called upon the public on Friday to help shape its ambitious plan to combat burnout among doctors, nurses and other health workers. At an open meeting at the organization's headquarters... read more
Non-invasive Ventilation for the Management of AHRF due to Exacerbation of COPD
Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) with bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP) is commonly used to treat patients admitted to hospital with acute hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHRF) secondary to an acute exacerbation of... read more
Are We Creating Survivors or Victims in Critical Care?
Delivering targeted nutrition to improve outcomes. Over the last 10 years, we are proud of the fact we have finally begun to reduce in-hospital mortality following severe sepsis in some countries worldwide. Further, mortality... read more
Palliative Care in Advanced HF Makes a Big Difference in Rare Controlled Trial
Patients with end-stage heart failure who received palliative care from an interdisciplinary team, along with usual evidence-based care, significantly improved in functional, psychosocial, and spiritual well-being compared... read more
Heart Rate Variability in Critical Care Medicine
Heart rate variability (HRV) has been used to assess cardiac autonomic activity in critically ill patients, driven by translational and biomarker research agendas. Several clinical and technical factors can interfere with... read more
Clinical Experience With IV Angiotensin II Administration
Angiotensin II is an endogenous hormone with vasopressor and endocrine activities. This is a systematic review of the safety of IV angiotensin II. Adverse events associated with angiotensin II were infrequent; however, exacerbation... read more
Sepsis Prediction in Critically Ill Patients by Platelet Activation Markers on ICU Admission
Platelets have been involved in both immune surveillance and host defense against severe infection. To date, whether platelet phenotype or other hemostasis components could be associated with predisposition to sepsis in critical... read more
Should All Massively Transfused Patients Be Treated Equally?
Although balanced resuscitation has become integrated into massive transfusion practice, there is a paucity of evidence supporting the delivery of high ratios of plasma and platelet to RBCs in the nontrauma setting. This... read more
