Communication App Helps Patients Voice Their Needs
An innovative tablet-based application offers intubated and ventilated intensive care unit (ICU) patients a way to converse with their medical staff.... read more
Supporting clinical research with an intensive-care database
Crowdsourcing clinical data from some 40,000 patients could vastly improve research and critical-care decisions.... read more
Is SIRS dead? The new definition of sepsis.
To mark Sepsis Awareness Month in September, Prof Gando, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Intensive Care, tells us more about the recent sepsis definitions, published earlier this year.... read more
N.J. hospitals work together to reduce sepsis deaths
Anyone can get sepsis. They can get it while perfectly healthy, after having a health issue or while hospitalized for a procedure or test.... read more
Greater collaboration between ICU nurses and ICU physicians may minimize VAP risk
Greater collaboration between ICU nursing and medicine could help to minimize ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), according to a study presented at the ATS 2016 International Conference.... read more
Tapping into IV takes pain out of blood draws
The system allows nurses and doctors to draw blood from a patient by accessing his or her existing intravenous medication line, instead of repeatedly sticking the patient with a needle. “I’ve never in my career in medicine... read more
New biomarker test helps detect autoimmune-induced neuropsychiatric disorders
A research team from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, led by Madeleine Cunningham, Ph.D., in conjunction with the National Institute of Mental Health, has developed the first-of-its-kind biomarker test to... read more
Antibiotics: resist the resistance
European Pharmaceutical Review caught up with Destiny Pharma’s CEO, Dr Love, for an interview about the threat of bacterial resistance to antibiotics...... read more
Community-acquired pneumonia related to intracellular pathogens
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality worldwide; the annual incidence of CAP among adults in Europe has ranged from 1.5 to 1.7 per 1000 population.... read more
Review: Stem Cell Tx for Heart Failure Not Ready Yet
Heterogeneity in methods for trials of stem cell therapies for heart failure are a big reason for the inconsistent results seen to date, a review article suggested.... read more
Elevated HDL levels predict reduced lung function
Having an elevated level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) is associated with an increased rate of lung function decline over time, according to results from a cohort analysis of more than 30,000 adults presented... read more
Memory of a heart attack is stored in our genes
Both heredity and environmental factors influence our risk of cardiovascular disease. A new study shows now that the memory of a heart attack can be stored in our genes through epigenetic changes.... read more
Telehealth Can Be a Useful Communication Tool in the ICU
A Penn Medicine study finds that a video-based telehealth platform could improve communications between clinicians and a patient's family members in the always-busy ICU. A telehealth link could be more beneficial to... read more
Signatures of Subacute Potentially Catastrophic Illness in the ICU
The severity of the original insult often determines prognosis, and the risk of death is further increased by events that occur during the stay, such as acute respiratory failure, sepsis, and hemorrhage. These new insults... read more
Artificial pancreas could save lives
An Asheville doctor-and-son team have an idea they say could save at least 100,000 lives a year. Leon and Jeremy DeJournett have patented an artificial pancreas, a system that uses a form of artificial intelligence to ensure... read more
Driving Risk Factors Behind Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia
Ventilators that help patients breathe can be life-saving devices; however, they also have the power to cause deadly ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).... read more
Earlier Renal Replacement Therapy for AKI? Not So Fast, Says Dr Berns
The AKIKI study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine; ELAIN was published in JAMA. If you have not read them, you should, if for no other reason than that your colleagues are likely to ask about them.... read more
Early Palliative Care Improves Quality of Life for Terminal Cancer Patients
The new study included 350 patients recently diagnosed with incurable lung or gastrointestinal cancer. They were randomly assigned to one of two care groups. One group received early palliative care integrated with cancer... read more
Study Finds Two Ways to Reduce HAIs
The risk for hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) is reduced by conducting fewer patient transports and limiting urinary catheter use, according to a study conducted at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey.... read more
Few ICU Patients with Pneumonia Tested for Virus Infections
Researchers investigated the clinical practices of testing for respiratory virus infections in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with suspected community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) or hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and... read more
