The Dark Sides of Fluid Administration in the Critically Ill Patient

The Dark Sides of Fluid Administration in the Critically Ill Patient

The administration of intravenous fluids is probably the most frequently initiated therapy in critically ill patients. With very few exceptions, such as severe congestive heart failure, IV fluids are considered as a safe... read more

Shock Trauma to Study Body Cooling for Patients in Cardiac Arrest from Massive Bleeding

Shock Trauma to Study Body Cooling for Patients in Cardiac Arrest from Massive Bleeding

The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland has opened a clinical trial to study whether rapidly cooling the body temperature of patients whose hearts stop due to massive blood loss will give surgeons... read more

Adverse Effects of Crystalloid and Colloid Fluids

Adverse Effects of Crystalloid and Colloid Fluids

Volume therapy can be managed according to the fluid balance method, the outcome-guided method, or the goal-directed method. One reason why fluid is needed is that anesthesia disrupts the normal autonomic control of the circulation,... read more

Hypothermia No Help When Cardiac Arrest Occurs in Hospital

Hypothermia No Help When Cardiac Arrest Occurs in Hospital

While therapeutic hypothermia may help improve some outcomes, it doesn't appear to provide benefit when cardiac arrest happens in a hospital setting, according this study.... read more

Cooling therapy might not help all cardiac arrest patients

Cooling therapy might not help all cardiac arrest patients

While cooling patients whose hearts stop suddenly outside the hospital may help improve outcomes, it doesn't seem to show the same benefit when cardiac arrest happens in a hospital setting, a new study suggests.... read more

Reducing Brain Injury After Cardiac Arrest

Reducing Brain Injury After Cardiac Arrest

Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) (32-34°C for 24 hours) should be mandatory practice for patients who are comatose after being resuscitated from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, if the initial cardiac rhythm is either pulseless... read more

Pre-hospital therapeutic hypothermia: The RINSE trial

Pre-hospital therapeutic hypothermia: The RINSE trial

Therapeutic hypothermia has had a bit of a rollercoaster ride over the last few years. It was all the rage following three small trials, which initially suggested a significant benefit from cooling patients to 33C following... read more

Being New in the ICU

Being New in the ICU

Being new in the ICU is not easy. You need to have the passion for critical care so much that you really don’t care how difficult it is. That passion is what gets you through the newbie stress. I was a new grad in the ICU,... read more

Meta-Analysis of Therapeutic Hypothermia for Traumatic Brain Injury in Adult and Pediatric Patients

Meta-Analysis of Therapeutic Hypothermia for Traumatic Brain Injury in Adult and Pediatric Patients

Therapeutic hypothermia is a likely beneficial treatment following TBI in adults, improving both neurologic outcomes and decreasing mortality rates. Our work suggests that the optimal management strategy to improve both morbidity... read more

What does the increasing prevalence of critical care research mean for critical care nurses?

The promotion and conduct of research is a core NHS function and The NHS Constitution sets out the principles that guide the NHS in its commitment to research to improve the current and future health and care of the population.... read more

Meta-Analysis of Therapeutic Hypothermia for Traumatic Brain Injury

Meta-Analysis of Therapeutic Hypothermia for Traumatic Brain Injury

Therapeutic hypothermia is likely a beneficial treatment following traumatic brain injuries in adults but cannot be recommended in children.... read more

Induced hypothermia not associated with better outcomes for status epilepticus

Induced hypothermia not associated with better outcomes for status epilepticus

In this trial, induced hypothermia added to standard care was not associated with significantly better 90-day outcomes than standard care alone in patients with convulsive status epilepticus.... read more

Cooling patients with TBI improve survival chances

Cooling patients with TBI improve survival chances

New research from Royal Holloway published today in Critical Care Medicine shows that lowering the body temperature of people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as soon as possible after the trauma may significantly... read more

Guidelines for Neuromuscular Blockade in the Adult Critically Ill Patient

Guidelines for Neuromuscular Blockade in the Adult Critically Ill Patient

The Society of Critical Care Medicine recently released guidelines addressing sustained neuromuscular blockade in the adult critically ill patient.... read more