Caring for Critically Ill Patients in Humanitarian Settings

Caring for Critically Ill Patients in Humanitarian Settings

Critical care medicine is far from the first medical field to come to mind when humanitarian action is mentioned, yet both critical care and humanitarian action share a fundamental purpose to save the lives and ease the suffering... read more

RRT Board Exam: Dominate the Hemodynamic and ECG Portion of the Respiratory Therapy Board Exam

RRT Board Exam: Dominate the Hemodynamic and ECG Portion of the Respiratory Therapy Board Exam

Our RRT Board exam series helps you study smarter, not harder. Instead of giving you information overload, we focus solely on the most recent NBRC TMC and clinical simulation exam matrix. Start feeling more confident and... read more

Dosing Adjuvant Vitamin C in Critically Ill Patients Undergoing CRRT

Dosing Adjuvant Vitamin C in Critically Ill Patients Undergoing CRRT

We read with great interest the recent letter to Critical Care by Marik and Hooper. Vitamin C is increasingly recognized as a crucial compound to alleviate morbidity in critically ill patients. Vitamin C concentrations, however,... read more

Tigecycline in Critically Ill Patients on Continuous RRT

Tigecycline in Critically Ill Patients on Continuous RRT

Despite high dialysability, dialysis clearance displayed only a minor contribution to tigecycline elimination, being in the range of renal elimination in patients without AKI. No dose adjustment of tigecycline seems necessary... read more

RRT Board Exam: Mechanical Ventilation

RRT Board Exam: Mechanical Ventilation

There’s nothing better than feeling confident and relaxed on exam day! Knowing that years of late night study sessions and unpaid clinical rotations are coming to an end just feels….well, absolutely fantastic! Of course,... read more

Effect of Early vs Delayed Initiation of RRT on Mortality in Critically Ill Patients With AKI

Effect of Early vs Delayed Initiation of RRT on Mortality in Critically Ill Patients With AKI

Among critically ill patients with Acute Kidney Injury (AKI), early Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) compared with delayed initiation of RRT reduced mortality over the first 90 days. Further multicenter trials of this intervention... read more

Early Versus Late Initiation of Renal Replacement Therapy in Critically Ill Patients

Early Versus Late Initiation of Renal Replacement Therapy in Critically Ill Patients

Early initiation of renal replacement therapy (RRT) effect on survival and renal recovery of critically ill patients is still uncertain. We aimed to systematically review current evidence comparing outcomes of early versus... read more

Predicting the Requirement for RRT in Intensive Care Patients with Sepsis

Predicting the Requirement for RRT in Intensive Care Patients with Sepsis

Sepsis is one of the most frequent causes of acute kidney injury (AKI) in critically ill patients, with initial organ impairment often followed by dysfunction in other systems. Renal dysfunction may therefore represent one... read more

Hemodynamic Consequences of Severe Lactic Acidosis in Shock States

Hemodynamic Consequences of Severe Lactic Acidosis in Shock States

Deleterious hemodynamic effects of severe lactic acidosis are largely suggested by experimental data, although not fully confirmed by human studies. Pending the effectiveness of an etiological treatment, there is no efficient... read more

Medications and RRT: We Know How to Dose, Right?

Dr. Fraser, MD, speaks with Bruce A. Mueller, PharmD, FCCP, FASN, about his talk presented at the 47th Critical Care Congress in San Antonio, Texas, entitled "Artificial Kidney Meets Mechanical Lung: Comanaging the Patient... read more

Timing of Renal Support and Outcome of Septic Shock and ARDS

Timing of Renal Support and Outcome of Septic Shock and ARDS

Early RRT initiation strategy was not associated with any improvement of 60-day mortality in patients with severe acute kidney injury and septic shock or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Unnecessary and potentially... read more

What’s New in Severe Pulmonary Embolism?

What’s New in Severe Pulmonary Embolism?

Severe pulmonary embolism (PE) remains a major cause of mortality. For intensivists managing the most "severe" forms of PE, we highlight the main recent advances in the care of such patients including risk stratification,... read more

Predictors of In-Hospital Mortality After RRT Calls

Predictors of In-Hospital Mortality After RRT Calls

Despite wide adoption of rapid response teams across the United States, predictors of in-hospital mortality for patients receiving rapid response team calls are poorly characterized. Identification of patients at high risk... read more

Hyponatremia and Death in Healthy Children From Plain Dextrose and Hypotonic Saline Solutions after Surgery

Hyponatremia and Death in Healthy Children From Plain Dextrose and Hypotonic Saline Solutions after Surgery

Standards of practice should be established for postoperative IV solutions that are used to hydrate patients, particularly children. The standards should acknowledge that the administration of solutions with saline in maintenance... read more

Biomarkers for Prediction of RRT in AKI

Biomarkers for Prediction of RRT in AKI

Acute kidney injury (AKI) frequently occurs in critically ill patients and often precipitates use of renal replacement therapy (RRT). However, the ideal circumstances for whether and when to start RRT remain unclear. We performed... read more

RRT in the Critically Ill Child

RRT in the Critically Ill Child

Although renal replacement therapy (RRT) is widely used in critically ill children, there have been few comprehensive population-based studies of its use. This article describes renal replacement therapy use, and associated... read more

Impact of Nighttime RRT Activation on Outcomes of Hospitalized Patients with Acute Deterioration

Impact of Nighttime RRT Activation on Outcomes of Hospitalized Patients with Acute Deterioration

Acutely deteriorating ward patients assessed by an RRT at nighttime had a higher risk of in-hospital mortality. This work identifies important shortcomings in health service provision and quality of care outside daytime hours,... read more