Do State Regulations on Nurse Staffing Make a Difference in ICU Outcomes?

Do State Regulations on Nurse Staffing Make a Difference in ICU Outcomes?

In the recent issue of Critical Care Medicine, Law and colleagues published an evaluation of the impact of changes in Massachusetts state regulations mandating that nurse staffing levels on critical care units be set at 1:1... read more

Sedation and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in PICU

Sedation and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in PICU

As little as 30 minutes of exposure to anesthetic and sedative agents may adversely affect the developing brain. Safe, humane management of critically ill infants requires the use of sedative agents, often for prolonged periods.... read more

Discontinuing 5-ASA Safe Upon Anti-TNF Induction for Ulcerative Colitis

Discontinuing 5-ASA Safe Upon Anti-TNF Induction for Ulcerative Colitis

Patients with ulcerative colitis who discontinue 5-aminosalicylate therapy once they begin anti-TNF therapy do not appear at great risk for adverse clinical events, according to research published in Gut. Researchers analyzed... read more

Mortality of civilian patients with suspected traumatic hemorrhage receiving pre-hospital transfusion of packed red blood cells compared to pre-hospital crystalloid

Mortality of civilian patients with suspected traumatic hemorrhage receiving pre-hospital transfusion of packed red blood cells compared to pre-hospital crystalloid

In a single centre UK HEMS study, in patients with suspected traumatic hemorrhage who received a PRBC transfusion there was an observed, but non-significant, reduction in mortality at 6 h and 28 days, also reflected in... read more

Mortality and Morbidity in Acutely Ill Adults Treated with Liberal vs. Conservative Oxygen Therapy

Mortality and Morbidity in Acutely Ill Adults Treated with Liberal vs. Conservative Oxygen Therapy

In acutely ill adults, high-quality evidence shows that liberal oxygen therapy increases mortality without improving other patient-important outcomes. Supplemental oxygen might become unfavourable above an SpO2 range of 94-96%.... read more

Metabolic-based Biomarkers Have Potential to Triage Children with Sepsis

Metabolic-based Biomarkers Have Potential to Triage Children with Sepsis

A new study has validated potential biomarkers for a sepsis-triage model to distinguish sepsis patients requiring care in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) from sepsis identified in the pediatric emergency department... read more

Cost-effectiveness of Procalcitonin Testing to Guide Antibiotic Treatment Duration in Critically Ill Patients

Cost-effectiveness of Procalcitonin Testing to Guide Antibiotic Treatment Duration in Critically Ill Patients

Although the impact of PCT guidance on total healthcare-related costs during the initial hospitalisation episode is likely negligible, the lower in-hospital mortality may lead to a non-significant increase in costs over a... read more

Is a Golden Age of Resuscitation on the Horizon?

Is a Golden Age of Resuscitation on the Horizon?

Is emergency medicine on the verge of "the dawn of a new golden age of resuscitation?" That's the bold prediction from CPR innovator Keith Lurie, MD, a professor of internal and emergency medicine at the University of Minnesota,... read more

Effect of Bag-Mask Ventilation vs Endotracheal Intubation During CPR on Neurological Outcome After OHCA

Effect of Bag-Mask Ventilation vs Endotracheal Intubation During CPR on Neurological Outcome After OHCA

Among patients with out-of-hospital cardiorespiratory arrest (OHCA), the use of BMV compared with ETI failed to demonstrate noninferiority or inferiority for survival with favorable 28-day neurological function, an inconclusive... read more

Impact of Drug and Equipment Preparation on Pre-hospital Emergency Anesthesia Procedural Time, Error Rate and Cognitive Load

Impact of Drug and Equipment Preparation on Pre-hospital Emergency Anesthesia Procedural Time, Error Rate and Cognitive Load

Pre-preparation of Preparation on Pre-hospital Emergency (PHEA) equipment and drugs resulted in safer performance of PHEA and has the potential to reduce on-scene time by up to a third. In total 23 experiments were completed,... read more

How Doctors Responded After NRA Told Them To “Stay In Their Lane”

How Doctors Responded After NRA Told Them To “Stay In Their Lane”

If the goal of the National Rifle Association (NRA) was to get doctors' attention, the Tweet posted recently certainly did its job. The NRA editorial that accompanied the Tweet included the following statement: "some doctors’... read more

“Real-World” Application of Thrombolysis in Cardiac Arrest

“Real-World” Application of Thrombolysis in Cardiac Arrest

In a single center's experience, thrombolytic therapy is used infrequently for the management of cardiac arrest. Thrombolysis during cardiac arrest should be considered on a case-by-case basis and should be utilized only... read more

Superbugs Pose a Dangerous, $65 Billion Threat to the US Health-Care System

Superbugs Pose a Dangerous, $65 Billion Threat to the US Health-Care System

A new report released Wednesday from the OECD estimates that antimicrobial resistant infection is on track to kill 30,000 Americans per year by 2050. The financial cost to the 33 developed countries included in the study... read more

Caffeine Accelerates Emergence from Isoflurane Anesthesia in Humans

Caffeine Accelerates Emergence from Isoflurane Anesthesia in Humans

Intravenous caffeine is able to accelerate emergence from isoflurane anesthesia in healthy males without any apparent adverse effects. All randomized participants were included in the analysis. The mean time to emergence... read more