A Multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial of Levetiracetam vs. Phenytoin for Convulsive Status Epilepticus in Children

A Multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial of Levetiracetam vs. Phenytoin for Convulsive Status Epilepticus in Children

Convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) is the most common life-threatening childhood neurological emergency. Despite this, there is a lack of high quality evidence supporting medication use after first line benzodiazepines,... read more

Rapid Bedside Evaluation of Seizures in the ICU by Listening to the Sound of Brainwaves

Rapid Bedside Evaluation of Seizures in the ICU by Listening to the Sound of Brainwaves

The Ceribell EEG System enabled rapid acquisition of electroencephalography (EEG) in patients at risk for non-convulsive seizures and aided clinicians in their evaluation of encephalopathic ICU patients. The ease of use and... read more

Delirium in Critical Illness: Haloperidol vs Ziprasidone?

Delirium in Critical Illness: Haloperidol vs Ziprasidone?

Delirium is defined as an acute disorder of consciousness which can occur in up to 80% of mechanically ventilated ICU patients. This acute cognitive dysfunction is associated with prolonged hospital stay, increased mortality,... read more

Critical Care Medicine: The Essentials and More

Critical Care Medicine: The Essentials and More

With a full-color design and concise, easy-to-read chapters, Critical Care Medicine: The Essentials and a Bit More covers the core elements of critical care, with a unique focus on the pathophysiology underlying clinical... read more

The Patients Were Saved. That’s Why the Families Are Suing

The Patients Were Saved. That’s Why the Families Are Suing

What happened to Beatrice Weisman before dawn on Aug. 29, 2013, was not supposed to happen: The medical staff at Maryland General Hospital found her in cardiac arrest, resuscitated her and kept her alive. The matriarch of... 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

Intensive Care Medicine in 2050: The Future of ICU Treatments

Intensive Care Medicine in 2050: The Future of ICU Treatments

It's unlikely that any of the three of us will still be around, but we can imagine how our children would describe their experience if they were admitted to the ICU in 2050. Here is what they might say: "The hospital is definitely... read more

The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives

The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives

Practicing nurse and New York Times columnist Theresa Brown invites us to experience not just a day in the life of a nurse but all the life that happens in just one day on a busy teaching hospital’s cancer ward. In the... read more

Transient Systolic Anterior Motion with Junctional Rhythm After Mitral Valve Repair in the ICU

Transient Systolic Anterior Motion with Junctional Rhythm After Mitral Valve Repair in the ICU

This case report shows that junctional rhythm can cause deterioration of SAM, LVOTO, and MR, and can lead to unstable hemodynamics in a patient with right ventricular failure after MVR. Atrial pacing can resolve SAM, LVOTO,... read more

Antithrombotic Therapy for Venous Thromboembolic Disease

Antithrombotic Therapy for Venous Thromboembolic Disease

This JAMA Clinical Guidelines Synopsis summarizes the American College of Chest Physicians' 2016 recommendations on antithrombotic therapy for venous thromboembolism (VTE). The estimated annual incidence of VTE, defined... read more

Antipsychotic Prescribing Patterns During and After Critical Illness

Antipsychotic Prescribing Patterns During and After Critical Illness

In this study, antipsychotics were used to treat nearly half of all antipsychotic-naïve ICU patients and were prescribed at discharge to 24% of antipsychotic-treated patients. Treatment with an atypical antipsychotic greatly... read more

Differences in attitudes towards end-of-life care among intensivists, oncologists and prosecutors in Brazil

Differences in attitudes towards end-of-life care among intensivists, oncologists and prosecutors in Brazil

There is great variability in end-of-life care and the legal context may interfere with decisions on limitation of medical treatment. In Brazil, end-of-life care was initially regulated in 2006, but legal controversies still... read more

The Precogs Take On Sepsis

The Precogs Take On Sepsis

It seems like every week there’s another publicized instance of our impending replacement by artificial intelligence. Big Data, they say, is going to free us of the cognitive burdens of complex thought while maximizing... read more

When health professionals have empathy, patients aren’t the only ones who benefit

When health professionals have empathy, patients aren’t the only ones who benefit

What do doctors and religious leaders have in common? At least a couple of big things: individuals in both professions engage with people at some of the most critical moments in their lives and require a high degree of empathy... read more