Association Between US Hospital Teaching Status and Mortality

Association Between US Hospital Teaching Status and Mortality

In an observational study of approximately 21 million hospitalizations of Medicare beneficiaries, adjusted 30-day mortality rates were significantly lower at 250 major teaching hospitals compared with 894 minor teaching and... read more

Facilitators and Barriers of Hand Hygiene

Facilitators and Barriers of Hand Hygiene

What keeps ICU nurses from washing their hands? And why do some overcome the barriers? Although there are many papers on hand hygiene, this new one in American Journal of Infection Control caught my eye. In this study 3,260... read more

Assessment of Post-ICU Functional Outcome

Assessment of Post-ICU Functional Outcome

Poor functional status is common after critical illness, and can adversely impact intensive care unit (ICU) survivors’ abilities to live independently. Instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), which encompass complex... read more

Delayed Referral Results in Missed Opportunities for Organ Donation

Delayed Referral Results in Missed Opportunities for Organ Donation

Rates of organ donation and transplantation have steadily increased in the United States and Canada over the past decade, largely attributable to a notable increase in donation after circulatory death. However, the number... read more

Prediction of Survival and Functional Outcomes After ICU Admission

Prediction of Survival and Functional Outcomes After ICU Admission

This study assesses the 6-month discriminative accuracy of patient mortality and functional outcome predictions made by intensive care unit (ICU) physicians and nurses at the time of ICU admission. Intensive care unit physicians'... read more

Exosomes in Critical Illness

Exosomes in Critical Illness

Exosomes are small, cell-released vesicles (40–100 nm in size) with the potential to transfer proteins, lipids, small RNAs, messenger RNAs, or DNA between cells via interstitial fluids. Due to their role in tissue homeostasis,... read more

Nurses are burnt out. Here's how hospitals can help

Nurses are burnt out. Here's how hospitals can help

Studies have found that overworked nurses lead to more errors and lower patient satisfaction. Nurses across the country are stressed, burnt out and thinking of leaving the profession. Surveys, polls and studies of all kinds... read more

Generalizable Biomarkers in Critical Care

Generalizable Biomarkers in Critical Care

The sequencing of the human genome and the subsequent availability of inexpensive, robust methods for "omics" profiling (e.g., genome-wide association studies, gene expression microarrays, and metabolomics) have... read more

Physiological Effects of Chronic Hypoxia

Physiological Effects of Chronic Hypoxia

This review examines an array of physiological responses to low cellular oxygen tensions and discusses the effect of increasing oxygen tensions, through oxygen conditioning, on such responses.... read more

Ramped Position versus Sniffing Position during Endotracheal Intubation

Ramped Position versus Sniffing Position during Endotracheal Intubation

A Multicenter, Randomized Trial of Ramped Position versus Sniffing Position during Endotracheal Intubation of Critically Ill Adults. Hypoxemia is the most common complication during endotracheal intubation of critically ill... read more

Early EEG for outcome prediction of postanoxic coma

Early EEG for outcome prediction of postanoxic coma

We recently showed that electroencephalography (EEG) patterns within the first 24 hours robustly contribute to multimodal prediction of poor or good neurological outcome of comatose patients after cardiac arrest. Here, we... read more

Clinical Practice Parameters for Hemodynamic Support of Pediatric and Neonatal Septic Shock

Clinical Practice Parameters for Hemodynamic Support of Pediatric and Neonatal Septic Shock

The American College of Critical Care Medicine provided 2002 and 2007 guidelines for hemodynamic support of newborn and pediatric septic shock. Provide the 2014 update of the 2007 American College of Critical Care Medicine... read more

Using Clinically Accessible Tools to Measure Sound Levels and Sleep Disruption in the ICU

Using Clinically Accessible Tools to Measure Sound Levels and Sleep Disruption in the ICU

Ambient sound was measured for 1 minute using an application downloaded to a personal mobile device. Bedside nurses also recorded the total time and number of awakening for each patient overnight. Across a large number of... read more

Interprofessional Survey of Perceived Barriers and Facilitators to Early Mobilization of Critically Ill Patients in Montreal, Canada

Interprofessional Survey of Perceived Barriers and Facilitators to Early Mobilization of Critically Ill Patients in Montreal, Canada

Early mobilization is safe, feasible, and associated with better outcomes in patients with critical illness. However, barriers to mobilization in clinical practice still exist. The objective of this study was to assess the... read more

The Epidemic of Physician and Medical Student Suicide

The Epidemic of Physician and Medical Student Suicide

In the past decade, numerous studies have shown that physicians and medical students have higher rates of suicide than the general population. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reports that over 400 physicians... read more

Principles learned from a successful VTE improvement program

Principles learned from a successful VTE improvement program

Principles learned from a successful improvement program can increase compliance and reduce hospital acquired VTEs (HA-VTEs) across multiple institutions. Can a single institution’s VTE prophylaxis program be scaled to... read more

Breaking Health Care Rules to Improve Care

Breaking Health Care Rules to Improve Care

This Viewpoint summarizes rules in health care organizations that their own leaders identified as ones that contribute little or no value to care, impede the work of clinicians, frustrate patients and families, and waste... read more