Tag: ICU
New study finds stress levels skyrocket for family members of ICU patients
New research by Intermountain Healthcare finds family members of patients in ICU have anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress lasting months. It's the first study of its kind to investigate the link between cortisol... read more
Nutrition Therapy – One Size Does Not Fit All
A review paper published in Critical Care highlights the importance of employing targeted nutritional care for critically ill patients. The sad truth, according to the article, is that current ICU nutrition delivery worldwide... read more
Survivor’s Story Highlights Need for new ICU Support Group
A major heart attack at age 40 sent him to the ICU. Jason Levi aims to help others with life after the ICU. The medical term is post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). The nurses are Jenelle Baer and Janet Nelson. They're both... read more
What is the Role of Benchmarking for Intensive Care?
Although the evaluation of a single intensive care unit (ICU) over time can produce insightful results, self-reflection can lead to excessive optimism or criticism. Benchmarking against other ICUs can provide ICU staff and... read more
Delayed Intubation Linked to Poor Outcome
The optimal timing of endotracheal intubation in critically ill patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation remains undefined. A new analysis of the large, prospective Intensive Care Over Nations (ICON) database compares... read more
A New Awareness of Mental Health in ICU Patients
During the last decade, the field of critical care medicine has been undergoing a sea change, says Dale Needham, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Critical Care Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Program. It wasn't... read more
Machine Learning Model Predicts Sepsis in ICU Patients 12 Hours Before Diagnosis
A machine learning model accurately predicted the onset of sepsis in ICU patients four to 12 hours prior to clinical recognition in a recent study. The observational cohort study used data from more than 31,000 admissions... read more
Helping The ITU Patient Sleep
It is well-known that patients in the intensive care units do suffer from a lack of sleep and frequent sleep disturbances. So how can we help the ITU patient sleep? This is a Cochrane review looking at the efficacy of non-pharmacological... read more
Effect of a National Standard for Deteriorating Patients on Intensive Care Admissions Due to Cardiac Arrest in Australia
The main objective of this study is to assess whether a national standard for improving care of deteriorating patients affected ICU admissions following cardiac arrests from hospital wards. Introducing a national standard... read more
How Do You Feel? Subjective Perception of Recovery
Long-term subjective and objective outcome appears good in the majority of cardiac arrest survivors. Specific functional and cognitive impairments were found in patients reporting unsatisfactory recovery. Subjective recovery... read more
Are Nurses Ready to Help to Improve Cost-Effectiveness?
The whole hospital workforce is nowadays compelled to accept greater responsibility for controlling health-care expenses. Nurses are in the front line to ensure proper use of drugs and consumables, and could have an important... read more
The Fallacy of Time-to-Intervention Studies
We are barraged by time-to-intervention studies (door-to-balloon time, time-to-antibiotics, door-to-needle, etc.). However, it must be kept in mind that these studies are purely correlational in design. Such studies cannot... read more
Effect of Standardized Handoff Curriculum on Improved Clinician Preparedness in the ICU
The UW-IPASS standardized handoff curriculum was perceived to improve intensive care provider preparedness and workflow. IPASS-based curricula represent an important step forward in communication standardization efforts and... read more
Potentially Modifiable Risk Factors for Long-Term Cognitive Impairment After Critical Illness
Long-term cognitive impairment is common in survivors of critical illness. Little is known about the etiology of this serious complication. We sought to summarize current scientific knowledge about potentially modifiable... read more
Severity of Illness Scores May Misclassify Critically Ill Obese Patients
Severity of illness scores rest on the assumption that patients have normal physiologic values at baseline and that patients with similar severity of illness scores have the same degree of deviation from their usual state.... read more
The Contents of a Patient Diary and its Significance in the ICU
The aim of this study was to describe the contents of a patient diary and its significance for persons cared for in an ICU. What formerly critically ill patients appreciate most about the diary is that the diary is personally... read more
A Comparison of the qSOFA and SIRS Criteria for the Diagnosis of Sepsis and Prediction of Mortality
Several studies were published to validate quick-SOFA (qSOFA), namely in comparison with Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) criteria. We performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis with the aim of comparing... read more
Effect of Lung Recruitment and Titrated PEEP vs Low PEEP on Mortality in Patients with ARDS
In patients with moderate to severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a strategy with lung recruitment and titrated Positive End-Expiratory Pressure (PEEP) compared with low PEEP increased 28-day all-cause mortality.... read more
Early goal-directed nutrition in ICU patients (EAT-ICU)
Extensive weight loss has been documented in intensive care unit (ICU) survivors, primarily as the result of muscle loss, leading to impaired physical function and reduced quality of life. The aim of the EAT-ICU trial is... read more
Effect of Boarding on Mortality in ICUs
Mortality increased with boarding of critically ill patients. Further research is needed to identify safer practices for managing patients during periods of high ICU occupancy. The study population consisted of 8,429 patients... read more
Bleeding During Percutaneous Dilatational Tracheostomy – What to do while waiting for the surgeon?
A patient suffered significant bleeding during an attempt at percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy due to an aberrant anterior jugular vein. Bleeding was controlled with pressure temporarily, but quickly returned necessitating... read more
Development and Validation of an Empiric Tool to Predict Favorable Neurologic Outcomes Among PICU Patients
This proposed prediction tool encompasses 20 risk factors into one probability to predict favorable neurologic outcome during ICU stay among children with critical illness. Future studies should seek external validation and... read more
