Stories Category: Intensive Care
Research Shows Increased Thrombus Burden in COVID-19 Patients With STEMI
There may be a strong signal towards higher thrombus burden and poorer outcomes in COVID-19 patients presenting with STEMI, supporting the need for establishing COVID-19 status in all STEMI cases, according to a study published... read more
Heparin 2.0: A New Approach to the Infection Crisis
In April 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for certain medical devices to be used in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This included extracorporeal blood purification... read more
Approach to New Fever or Rigors in the ICU Patient
Failure to recognize neutropenic fever as a separate entity that requires immediate treatment. Routinely ordering urinalysis and sputum cultures (for most patients, this will only lead to false-positive results and unnecessary... read more
Elective Tracheostomy During COVID-19: To Whom, When, How?
We suggest to wait at least 14 days to perform tracheostomy. In patients with SOFA score > 6 and D dimer > 4, tracheostomy should not be performed or should be postponed. Optimized procedures and enhanced personal... read more
Haloperidol for Treatment of Headache in the ED
Headache is a common chief complaint that emergency physicians encounter almost every day and sometimes multiple times in each shift. In fact, headache is the fifth leading cause of patients presenting to the emergency department... read more
Manual of ICU Procedures
Manual of ICU Procedures is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to intensive care procedures. The book is divided into four anatomical sections, and a final miscellaneous section. Section one covers airway and respiratory,... read more
COVID-19: How to Quantify and Interpret Treatment Effects in Comparative Clinical Studies
Clinical trials of treatments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) draw intense public attention. More than ever, valid, transparent, and intuitive summaries of the treatment effects, including efficacy and harm, are needed.... read more
Communication Strategy for Families of Patients Dying in the ICU
Providing relatives of patients who are dying in the ICU with a brochure on bereavement and using a proactive communication strategy that includes longer conferences and more time for family members to talk may lessen the... read more
COVID-19: Airborne Particle Contamination Increased Substantially Using the Aerosol Box
Study shows that aerosol box used to protect healthcare workers during COVID intubation increases, rather than decreases, exposure to airborne particles. A new study shows that aerosol boxes that have been manufactured... read more
Incidence of Pulmonary Embolism in Non-critically ill COVID-19 Patients
Recent studies suggest that thrombotic complications are a common phenomenon in the novel SARS-CoV-2 infection. The main objective of our study is to assess cumulative incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE) in non critically... read more
Avoiding Common ICU Errors
This pocket book succinctly describes 318 errors commonly made by attendings, residents, interns, nurses, and nurse-anesthetists in the intensive care unit, and gives practical, easy-to-remember tips for avoiding these errors.... read more
Harm of IV High-Dose Vitamin C Therapy in Adult Patients
There is no consistent evidence that IV high-dose vitamin C therapy is more harmful than placebo in double-blind randomized controlled trials. However, reports of oxalate nephropathy, hypernatremia, glucometer error, and... read more
Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI)
Urinalysis should not be checked simply due to cloudy or odorous urine (Class A recommendation from Infectious Diseases Society of America). This probably represents colonization of the Foley bag, not invasive infection. Be... read more
Increase in Rare Brain Inflammation and Stroke Linked to COVID-19
Preliminary clinical data indicate that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is associated with neurological and neuropsychiatric illness. Responding to this, a weekly virtual coronavirus... read more
Clinical Characteristics of Patients With COVID-19 Receiving Emergency Medical Services
This cohort study of 124 patients with COVID-19 revealed that most patients with COVID-19 presenting to emergency medical services were older and had multiple chronic health conditions. Initial concern, symptoms, and examination... read more
Five COVID-19 Mysteries Scientists Are Still Racing to Solve
Six months and more than ten million confirmed cases later, the COVID-19 pandemic has become the worst public-health crisis in a century. More than 500,000 people have died worldwide. It has also catalysed a research... read more
Safe Performance of Echocardiography During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has become a worldwide healthcare emergency, with continuously growing number of infected subjects. Considering the easy virus spread through respiratory droplets produced with... read more
