Current efforts to fight sepsis aren’t working. We need a bolder approach

Current efforts to fight sepsis aren’t working. We need a bolder approach

Thanks to antibiotics, vaccinations, and public health advances like modern sanitation, it's easy to think that Americans live largely free of the infectious diseases that once took such a toll. That’s partially right:... read more

AKI and Mild Therapeutic Hypothermia in Patients After Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

AKI and Mild Therapeutic Hypothermia in Patients After Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of mild therapeutic hypothermia (MTH) on the incidence of and recovery from acute kidney injury (AKI). Mild therapeutic hypothermia seems to have a protective effect... read more

In vitro comparison of the adsorption of inflammatory mediators by blood purification devices

In vitro comparison of the adsorption of inflammatory mediators by blood purification devices

Septic shock, a leading cause of acute kidney injury, induces release of pro-/anti-inflammatory mediators, leading to increased mortality and poor renal recovery. This is the first in vitro study directly comparing three... read more

Reducing diagnostic errors in the ICU

Reducing diagnostic errors in the ICU

Diagnostic error occurs in 5-20 percent of physician-patient encounters, with a comparable prevalence among ICU admissions and patients who die in the intensive care unit (ICU). Further, diagnostic errors comprise 9-12 percent... read more

A Randomized Trial of a Family-Support Intervention in ICUs

A Randomized Trial of a Family-Support Intervention in ICUs

Family-support intervention in ICUs increased patient comfort and reduced costs. Among critically ill patients and their surrogates, a family-support intervention delivered by the interprofessional ICU team did not significantly... read more

Muscle Weakness and 5-Year Survival in ARDS Survivors

Muscle Weakness and 5-Year Survival in ARDS Survivors

At hospital discharge, >1/3 of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) survivors had muscle weakness. Greater strength at discharge and throughout follow-up was associated with improved 5-year survival. In patients with... read more

Evaluating Muscle Mass in Survivors of ARDS

Evaluating Muscle Mass in Survivors of ARDS

In the first year after acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), patients gained fat mass and maintained lean mass. We found no association of whole body percent lean mass with commonly hypothesized hospital risk factors.... read more

Ketamine Alters Hippocampal Cell Proliferation and Improves Learning in Mice after TBI

Ketamine Alters Hippocampal Cell Proliferation and Improves Learning in Mice after TBI

Ketamine alters hippocampal cell proliferation after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Surprisingly, these changes were associated with improvement in a neurogenesis-related behavioral recall task, suggesting a possible benefit... read more

Words that Heal: ICU Journals at Penn Help Patients and Staff

After years of planning, Penn Presbyterian began offering the journals in January to help prevent post-intensive care syndrome or PICS, a set of physical and emotional problems gaining attention as more people survive an... read more

Delirium in ICU Prevented With Nocturnal Administration of Dexmedetomidine

Delirium in ICU Prevented With Nocturnal Administration of Dexmedetomidine

Low-dose dexmedetomidine administered at night to critically ill adults reduced the incidence of delirium during intensive care unit (ICU) stays and patient-reported sleep quality remained unchanged, according to a study... read more

Emergency Management of Intracerebral Hemorrhage – The Golden Hour

Emergency Management of Intracerebral Hemorrhage – The Golden Hour

There is a kind of self-fulfilling prognostic pessimism when it comes to Intracerebral Hemorrhage. And this pessimism sometimes leads to less than optimal care in patients who otherwise might have had a reasonably good outcome... read more

ICU Early Mobility – A Concept ICU Bed with Integrated Leg Press

ICU Early Mobility – A Concept ICU Bed with Integrated Leg Press

ICU beds that promote muscle recovery not muscle loss. Critical care experts at Johns Hopkins are reporting initial success in boosting recovery and combating muscle wasting among critically ill, mostly bed-bound patients... read more

Early Mobility in ICU: From Patient to Physician

Early Mobility in ICU: From Patient to Physician

In the ICU, motion means life. Dr. Paul Wischmeyer, Professor of Anesthesiology and Surgery, Duke University gives an overview of the challenges associated with early mobility in ICU, and the importance of implementing protocols.... read more

Early Mobilization of Patients in ICU

Early Mobilization of Patients in ICU

Currently there is a divide between ICU clinicians who wish to implement early mobilization based on current evidence and clinicians who believe that early mobilization is an intervention that should be tested in a large... read more