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This study examined the effect of variations in ICU staffing, defined in terms of intensivist-to-ICU bed ratio, on ICU length-of-stay (LOS) and ICU and hospital mortality. The study was conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN over a 9-month period when the medical ICU underwent a series of planned changes which resulted in its capacity increasing from 15 to 24 beds.
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In a previous study involving patients in a surgical ICU1, Van den Berghe and associates at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, showed that tight control of serum glucose levels by means of a strict insulin infusion protocol decreased both morbidity and mortality.
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The duration of antimicrobial therapy for common infections has been a subject of debate and investigation for decades. During this time, there has been a general trend toward shorter duration treatments, particularly in the area of urinary and genital tract infections.
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Hypertension is a very common disease affecting up to 20-25% of adults in the United States. In the past, hypertension has been considered a rare disease in children; however, in the last 10 years it has emerged as an important disease in pediatrics as well. Because hypertension is a risk factor for cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular disease, as well as renal disease, the increase in pediatric hypertension is a concern because of its potential for long term sequelae.
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Implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and especially its Privacy Rule, has affected everyone who works in health care. This study from the University of Michigan sought to determine the potential effect of the Privacy Rule on the conduct of clinical research in the form of a telephone interview-based follow-up study.
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Doering and colleagues used a nonrandomized, comparative, longitudinal design to study 72 patients after CABG surgery to investigate the association among depressive symptoms, infections, and impaired wound healing.
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In this prospective study, cook and associates looked at prevalence and incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) as diagnosed by compression ultrasonography in ICU patients.
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Simulation training has a long history with examples ranging from modeling in the animal kingdom (eg, a lion teaching hunting skills to a cub), to war games designed to better prepare soldiers for battle.