Chest
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The aim of this study was to compare completion of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign 3-hour treatment recommendations and patient-centered outcomes between patients with severe sepsis who received a sepsis-specific diagnosis code with those who did not. ⋯ Severe sepsis continues to be an underdiagnosed and undertreated condition. Patients who were diagnosed had higher treatment rates yet experienced worse outcomes. Continued investigation is needed to identify factors contributing to diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes in patients with severe sepsis.
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Procedures designed to drain fluid or air from the pleural spaces can be technically challenging in patients who are critically ill, and are associated with significant complications. Many individual ultrasound techniques have been described, each with the goal of making pleural drainage procedures safer. This article presents a systemic approach for incorporating many of these tools into procedures such as diagnostic thoracentesis, therapeutic drainage, and pleural catheter insertion. A series of illustrative figures and narrated video presentations are included to demonstrate many of the described techniques.
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We performed systematic reviews using the population, intervention, comparison, outcome (PICO) format to answer the following key clinical question: Are the CHEST 2006 classifications of acute, subacute and chronic cough and associated management algorithms in adults that were based on durations of cough useful? ⋯ Although the quality of evidence was low, the published literature since 2006 suggests that CHEST's 2006 Cough Guidelines and management algorithms for acute, subacute, and chronic cough in adults appeared useful in diagnosing and treating patients with cough around the globe. These same algorithms have been updated to reflect the advances in cough management as of 2017.