Critical Care
RSSArticles
-
Approaches to the Hemorrhaging Pediatric Trauma Patient
Clinicians might be surprised to learn that after central nervous system injury, hemorrhage/hemorrhagic shock is the second most common injury complex resulting in death for pediatric trauma patients. A thorough understanding of subtle presentations and management is essential to improve the outcome for these children.
-
The Steep Costs of Operating Under Crisis Standards of Care
New data shine a harsh light on what can happen when hospitals become so overcrowded that they have to resort to crisis standards of care, a level of care where practice standards are relaxed under the strain of scarce resources.
-
Is There a Difference Between COVID-19 and Non-COVID-19 ARDS?
Comparison of a small COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) cohort with a historical pre-COVID-19 ARDS cohort found some differences in physiologic parameters and biomarkers, but not enough evidence to warrant deviation from known management guidelines.
-
Beyond Benzodiazepines: Adjuncts for the Management of Alcohol Withdrawal in the ICU
Although benzodiazepines are the mainstay of prevention and treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome, adjunct medications are used increasingly, with the goal of reducing cumulative benzodiazepine exposure and decreasing both hospital and intensive care unit admission and length of stay.
-
Nurses Appreciate Training on End-of-Life Care
It is difficult for nurses to remain hopeful and honest when caring for someone at the end of life. Still, families need physical, psychological, and spiritual care that nurses must be adept in providing.
-
Minority Residents’ Palliative Care Training Quality Trails Other Medical Education
The 91 residents surveyed reported receiving less training on palliative care than they did on sepsis management. Half the residents reported receiving negative messages about palliative care. Two-thirds said they considered care for dying patients to be depressing.
-
Dexmedetomidine and Temperature Elevation: Is the Link Important?
In this post hoc analysis of the SPICE III trial, a greater percentage of patients receiving dexmedetomidine had temperatures greater than or equal to 38.3ºC and 39.0ºC compared to usual care. Although there was a significant dose response relationship between dexmedetomidine received and increase in temperature, there was no difference between groups in terms of paracetamol, antimicrobial, neuromuscular blocker, neuroleptic drug use, blood cultures performed, or initiation of renal replacement therapy. -
Lung Protective Ventilation in ARDS: What Is the Best Strategy?
Using newer methodology in network meta-analysis to compare various protective mechanical ventilation strategies, the authors concluded that a low tidal volume strategy combined with prone ventilation was associated with the greatest risk reduction in mortality for moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. -
Clinical Application of Biomarkers of Acute Kidney Injury in the ICU
Biomarkers have become an important tool for the early recognition and prognostication of acute kidney injury. In the last few years, several biomarkers have emerged that have shown promising results in large-scale clinical studies. -
Hybrid ED/ICU Setting Cuts Critical Care Admission Rates
For patients and families, a combination ED-ICU means avoiding costly ICU admissions that do not align with care goals. For health systems, it means alleviating ICU capacity strain.