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Peterson and colleagues at rush university medical Center carried out an observational study of ICU patients' oral nutritional intake in the 7 days following extubation after mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure.
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In this issue: New reports about proton pump inhibitors and the effects of gastric suppression, pioglitazone vs vitamin E for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, metformin and vitamin B12 deficiency, and FDA Actions.
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Patients with neuromuscular disease who are intubated and subsequently fail multiple spontaneous breathing trials are often relegated to placement of a tracheo-stomy and continuous mechanical ventilation.
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Terragni et al performed this 4-year-long multicenter randomized controlled trial to determine whether early (6-8 days) vs late (13-15 days) tracheotomy would reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) incidence.
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In most EDs, the last thing a provider wants is an extra, non-clinical individual "getting in the way."
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A program designed to find a "medical home" for complex pediatric patients can reduce the number of ED visits by 55%, according to a study published in the March 11, 2010, online edition of the Journal of Pediatrics.
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It is not current practice in most EDs, and it is not without controversy. In fact, one ethicist has called the practice "ghoulish." However, a government-funded pilot program at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Presbyterian Hospital and Allegheny General Hospital, both in Pittsburgh, is seeking to make organ donation from the ED a reality, while at the same time addressing the ethical challenges that have been raised and the logistical challenges that can lower the odds for success.
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This study from a surgical ICU in a french university hospital sought to determine the effect on catheterization duration of a daily reminder notifying physicians that the patient had a central venous catheter (CVC) or urinary tract catheter (UTC) and asking whether there was continued need for that catheter.
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Raurich and colleagues studied 80 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) to determine whether the alveolar dead-space fraction (VD/VT, the proportion of each breath that does not participate in gas exchange) was a predictor of ultimate survival. The patients were ages 18 years or older, acutely ill in the investigators' ICU, and met the current international diagnostic criteria for ARDS.