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Synopsis: The clinical decision rule tested in this study reduced unnecessary hospital admissions in patients with suspected acute cardiac ischemia without affecting safety.
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Ventilator-related deaths and injuries often are caused by multiple system failures, especially in the ICU, according to a recent report from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
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The fatality rates for hospital-associated pneumonia in general, and of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in particular, are high. For hospital-associated pneumonia, attributable mortality rates of 20% to 33% have been reported, according to the draft pneumonia prevention guideline by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Synopsis: This carefully done systematic review of the existing literature shows that overall mortality and ICU length of stay are better with increasing involvement of critical care physicians in patient care.
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The purpose of this pre- and postintervention observation study was to evaluate the effect of an educational initiative on ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) rate. The educational program was directed towards respiratory therapists and critical care nurses.
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As hospitals struggle to comply with aspects of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), one thorny issue is whether patients can be transferred from an ICU of one hospital to the emergency department of another hospital, based on an accepting physicians request.
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Despite measures taken following the resurgence of TB cases in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many health care workers still poorly understand respiratory isolation procedures, says Kevin P. Fennelly, MD, MPH, researcher at the Center for Emerging Pathogens of the New Jersey Medical School in Newark.
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Recent reports from Paris that scores of patients developed aplastic anemia after receiving eprex, the oxygen therapeutic drug known generically as erythropoietin (EPO), have some stateside researchers puzzled.