Spotlight Interview: The World of Fluids

Looking at the data from a new perspective, the article "Both Positive and Negative Fluid Balance May Be Associated With Reduced Long-Term Survival in the Critically Ill" published in Critical Care Medicine in August 2017,... read more

Multicenter Assessment of Sedation and Delirium Practices in the ICU in Poland

A majority of Polish ICUs do not adhere to international guidelines regarding sedation and delirium practices. There continues to be inadequate use of sedation and delirium monitoring tools. High usage of benzodiazepines... read more

Lowering systolic blood pressure would save more than 100,000 lives per year, study finds

Intensive treatment to lower systolic (top number) blood pressure to below 120 would save more than 100,000 lives per year in the United States, say scientists. Two thirds of the lives saved would be men and two thirds would... read more

ICU Diary Impact on Patients and Families Wellbeing

The ICU-Diary study: prospective, multicenter comparative study of the impact of an ICU diary on the wellbeing of patients and families in French ICUs. This study will provide new insights on the impact of ICU diaries on... read more

Association of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program Implementation With Readmission and Mortality Outcomes in Heart Failure

Among fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries discharged after heart failure hospitalizations, implementation of the HRRP was temporally associated with a reduction in 30-day and 1-year readmissions but an increase in 30-day... read more

The YEARS Study – Simplified Diagnostic Management of PE

The clinical diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) can be challenging given its variable presentation, requiring dependence on objective testing. Decision instruments such as PERC and the Wells' score help stratify patients... read more

Definitive Global Transfusion Study Supports Patient Safety and Outcomes

Lower thresholds for blood transfusions during cardiac surgery have proven to be safe and provide good patient outcomes compared to traditional thresholds, according to the largest research study ever performed in this area.... read more

Sepsis mortality linked to concentration of critical care fellowships

Higher survival rates for sepsis were more concentrated in the Northeast and metropolitan areas in the Western regions of the United States. Compared with other parts of the United States, survival rates for sepsis were highest... read more

Enhancing Delirium Case Definitions in Electronic Health Records

Delirium is an acute confusional state, associated with morbidity and mortality in diverse medically ill populations. Delirium may be better captured by composite outcomes, including both administrative claims data and elements... read more

Is Intravenous Administration of Iodixanol Associated with Increased Risk of AKI, Dialysis, or Mortality?

Among patients at the highest perceived risk of post-contrast Acute Kidney Injury (AKI), intravenous administration of iodixanol for contrast material enhanced CT was not an independent risk factor for AKI, dialysis, or... read more

Hospital Factors May Influence NIV Outcomes Even in Low-Evidence Use

Strong evidence supports use of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) for patients with respiratory distress from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure – i.e., strong evidence conditions (SECs). A new study of... read more

High Flow Nasal Cannula Use Outside of the ICU – Factors Associated with Failure

High FiO2 requirements, history of intubation, and cardiac co-morbidity are associative predictors of HFNC failure. Bronchiolitis patients may be treated with HFNC outside of the ICU with lower odds of failure. Two hundred... read more

Review of Strategies to Reduce CLABSI and CAUTI in Adult ICUs

Central line–associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) are costly and morbid. Despite evidence-based guidelines, Some intensive care units (ICUs) continue to have... read more

Perspectives of Survivors, Families and Researchers on Key Outcomes for Research in ARF

There is heterogeneity among the outcomes evaluated in studies of survivors of acute respiratory failure (ARF). Patient, family and researcher groups supported inclusion of outcome domains that fit within the PICS framework.... read more

Effect of treatment delay on the effectiveness and safety of antifibrinolytics in acute severe hemorrhage

Antifibrinolytics reduce death from bleeding in trauma and post-partum haemorrhage. We examined the effect of treatment delay on the effectiveness of antifibrinolytics. We obtained data for 40,138 patients from two randomised... read more

A simple algorithm for the identification of clinical COPD phenotypes

This study aimed to identify simple rules for allocating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients to clinical phenotypes identified by cluster analyses.Data from 2409 COPD patients of French/Belgian COPD cohorts... read more

Accuracy and Applications of Lung Ultrasound to Diagnose VAP

Lung ultrasound (LUS) is an accurate tool to diagnose community-acquired pneumonia. However, it is not yet an established tool to diagnose ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Small subpleural consolidations and dynamic... read more

RRT Modality in the ICU and Renal Recovery at Hospital Discharge

In this large retrospective study, intermittent hemodialysis as an initial modality was associated with lower renal recovery at hospital discharge among patients with acute kidney injury, although the difference seems somewhat... read more

Shock Trauma to Study Body Cooling for Patients in Cardiac Arrest from Massive Bleeding

The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland has opened a clinical trial to study whether rapidly cooling the body temperature of patients whose hearts stop due to massive blood loss will give surgeons... read more

Frequency of pulmonary embolism amongst patients admitted for first-time syncope

All patients admitted to an inpatient service for first-time syncope from the emergency departments of 11 Italian hospitals from 2012-2014 were evaluated for pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolism was found in 17.3% of patients... read more

Higher levels of tau protein found in children with early onset psychosis

New research shows that levels of a certain type of the Alzheimer's disease-related tau protein are higher in patients aged 18 years and under suffering early onset psychosis (EOP).... read more

An Expert Consensus Statement on Physical Rehabilitation After Hospital Discharge

A consensus-based framework for optimal physical therapy (PT) after hospital discharge is proposed. Future research should focus on feasibility testing of this framework, developing risk stratification tools and validating... read more