-
Patients with preterm contractions, who subsequently were diagnosed to have false labor and discharged, do not have an increased risk for early preterm birth, neonatal mortality, or lower Apgar scores. However, they do have a slightly greater chance of delivering in the late preterm period (34 to 36 weeks).
-
Interpret the rhythm strip shown above. The widened beats on the tracing are not ventricular. What else might they be?
-
The increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance in urinary pathogens has led Hooton and colleagues to examine the efficacy of a relatively broad spectrum orally administered cephalosporin in the treatment of uncomplicated cystitis.
-
-
This article provides many excellent suggestions and strategies for improving communication among the members of the critical care team to reduce medical errors.
-
In this study in which all patients with clinically suspected ventilator-associated pneumonia were given prompt empiric antibiotic therapy, whether that therapy turned out to be appropriate for the organisms recovered turned out to be an important determinant of patient outcomes.
-
After acute coronary syndromes (ACS), patients remain at risk for recurrent cardiovascular events.
-
The cuff-leak test (CLT) was performed prospectively in this study using the volume technique whereby the difference between inspired and expired tidal volume before and after cuff deflation is used to detect the presence of laryngeal edema and the likelihood of developing post-extubation stridor.
-
Family members of patients recovering from critical illness may experience psychological problems, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Jones and colleagues reasoned that provision of an ICU diary, written in everyday language by ICU staff, would be beneficial to family members by providing an explanation of daily events and opportunity for expression of feelings and contribution to the plan of care.
-
The authors note a paucity of literature on early (0-48 hours of ventilation and ICU admission) sedation practices and their impact on outcomes; thus they performed this multicenter prospective cohort study with the hypothesis that early sedation is associated with delirium, time to extubation, and hospital and 180-day mortality.
