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Rachmale and colleagues retrospectively identified 210 patients with acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) undergoing mechanical ventilation for longer than 48 hours.
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Family members of patients recovering from critical illness may experience psychological problems, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Jones and colleagues reasoned that provision of an ICU diary, written in everyday language by ICU staff, would be beneficial to family members by providing an explanation of daily events and opportunity for expression of feelings and contribution to the plan of care.
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The cuff-leak test (CLT) was performed prospectively in this study using the volume technique whereby the difference between inspired and expired tidal volume before and after cuff deflation is used to detect the presence of laryngeal edema and the likelihood of developing post-extubation stridor.
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Doernberg and colleagues sought to determine whether receipt of doxycycline was associated with protection from development of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in hospitalized patients being treated with ceftriaxone, a known high-risk antibiotic for CDI.
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In this issue: Dementia and benzodiazepines; effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acid and Ginkgo biloba supplements; and FDA actions.
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As more patients are surviving critical illness, there is documentation of serious cognitive, physical, and psychiatric consequences arising from lengthy ICU stays in these patients.
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The authors note a paucity of literature on early (0-48 hours of ventilation and ICU admission) sedation practices and their impact on outcomes; thus they performed this multicenter prospective cohort study with the hypothesis that early sedation is associated with delirium, time to extubation, and hospital and 180-day mortality.
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A patient handover, or handoff, in health care can be defined as the transfer of information, professional responsibility, and accountability between individuals and teams. Handoffs represent a time of particular patient vulnerability to complications and medical errors, and with the current focus on safety an increasing amount of attention has been devoted to characterizing and improving them.
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Great strides have been made over the last couple of decades in the management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and widespread implementation of such interventions as aspirin, beta-blockers, and prompt reperfusion therapy has contributed to substantially reduced mortality from this leading killer.