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Patients who were transferred directly to the authors medical ICU from other hospitals were sicker and had worse outcomes than those who were directly admitted. Benchmarking data generated without taking referral source into account erroneously indicated an excessive death rate and other adverse outcomes.
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A time lapse of > 4 hours in ICU transfer after the development of 1 or more physiologic threshold criteria was associated with greater mortality, longer hospital length of stay, and higher costs.
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Although noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) has become a standard of care for acute-on-chronic ventilatory failure in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the numerous reported studies have left uncertain how the clinician should select patients who should receive this therapy.
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The FDA has approved the first nasally administered flu vaccine to be marketed in this country. Medimmunes FluMist is also the first influenza vaccine to use live virus.
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This study of blood culture draw sites in febrile ICU patients found that it is safe and reliable to obtain at least 1 of the blood cultures from a central venous catheter, irrespective of the type of catheter in place.
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The initial 80% savings rate that Denvers Centura-St. Anthony Central Hospital realized through standardizing a formulary for ICU sedative drugs has held firm for more than four years, according to medical director Joseph Heit, MD.
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Many ICU physicians dont get the reimbursement they deserve because they quit billing for critical care too soon, says consultant Frank Lucas, who has performed chart audits based on payer mix and midnight census of 100-150 records to assess potential revenues for more than 35 ICUs.
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In patients with pulmonary embolism, elevated plasma levels of cardiac troponins help to identify a subgroup of patients who are at high risk and who may benefit from more aggressive treatment.
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The Women's Health Initiatives (WHI) was halted 1 year ago, but fallout from this landmark study continues. The study was designed to identify the risks or benefits of estrogen plus progesterone vs placebo in healthy postmenopausal women.