Should ICU clinicians follow patients after ICU discharge? Yes

Should ICU clinicians follow patients after ICU discharge? Yes

The trajectory of recovery from critical illness is often portrayed as a continuum. At one extremity lies an unstable patient dependent on life-sustaining treatments in the intensive care unit. At the... read more

Organ and Tissue Donation Education for Critical Care Residents

Organ and Tissue Donation Education for Critical Care Residents

Qualitative data corroborated that residents need more exposure to clinical cases, especially regarding DCD donors. A standardized education curriculum would be beneficial for all residents within the ICU. Developing a better... read more

Abnormal Environmental Light Exposure in the ICU Environment

Abnormal Environmental Light Exposure in the ICU Environment

Patients' environmental light exposure in the intensive care unit is consistently low and follows a diurnal pattern. No effect of nighttime light exposure was observed on melatonin secretion. Inadequate daytime light exposure... read more

Dutch Ambitions on eHealth

Dutch Ambitions on eHealth

Dutch government is encouraging the healthcare sector to expand telehealth (eHealth) services. Dutch government wants eHealth to become more widely available and is encouraging the healthcare sector to develop it further.... read more

PTSD Phenomena After Critical Illness

PTSD Phenomena After Critical Illness

Experiencing critical illness and intensive care can be extremely stressful. Roughly 1 in 5 critical illness survivors have clinically significant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in the year after intensive... read more

Stopping ICU delirium by getting patients moving

Stopping ICU delirium by getting patients moving

Doctor says the treatment plan makes a 'massive difference' to those in critical care. Any hospital stay can be traumatic. But 30 percent of patients in intensive care units experience ICU delirium. The rate for... read more

Haloperidol Serum Concentrations in Critically Ill Patients Included in the REDUCE Study

Haloperidol Serum Concentrations in Critically Ill Patients Included in the REDUCE Study

ICU delirium occurs frequently and is associated with unfavorable outcome. A recent delirium prevention study, the REDUCE study, has assessed the efficacy of prophylactic use of haloperidol. In this subset... read more

pH-guided Fluid Resuscitation and BICAR-ICU

pH-guided Fluid Resuscitation and BICAR-ICU

The use of bicarbonate is a source of eternal disagreement. Bicarbonate has a shameful history of being abused in situations where it's unhelpful (e.g. cardiac arrest). This has impugned its reputation, giving it an aura... read more

Six Reasons to Avoid Fluoroquinolones in the Critically Ill

Six Reasons to Avoid Fluoroquinolones in the Critically Ill

As an internal medicine resident and pulmonary/critical care fellow, I loved fluoroquinolones. They were effective, easy to prescribe, and had 100% oral bioavailability. However, working full-time in the ICU has forced me... read more

Silent Space

Silent Space

Exhausted at the end of a busy week on service in the intensive care unit (ICU), the fellow and I are on our way to the conference room to debrief the week. The overhead code alarm disrupts the temporary lull in activity... read more

Circulating Biomarkers May be Unable to Detect Infection at the Early Phase of Sepsis in ICU Patients

Circulating Biomarkers May be Unable to Detect Infection at the Early Phase of Sepsis in ICU Patients

During the study period, 363 patients with SIRS were screened, 84 having exclusion criteria. Ninety‑one patients were classified as having non‑septic SIRS and 188 as having sepsis. Eight biomarkers had an area under... read more

We Should Avoid the Term “Fluid Overload”

Using the right word or phrase to describe a specific pathologic process/patient diagnosis and/or status is important, not only within the intensive care unit team, but also when we communicate with external consultants.... read more

Women in Intensive Care

Women in Intensive Care study: a preliminary assessment of international data on female representation in the ICU physician workforce, leadership and academic positions. Despite limited information globally, available data... read more

Sepsis: Learn the Signs and Document

Sepsis: Learn the Signs and Document

Writing in the MJA, researchers have reported the findings of a prospective cohort study comparing estimates of the incidence and mortality of sepsis using clinical diagnosis or the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care... read more