Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2009
The practice of and documentation on withholding and withdrawing life support: a retrospective study in two Dutch intensive care units.
We determined how often life support was withheld or withdrawn in patients who died in the intensive care unit (ICU) or early after ICU discharge and evaluated documentation on decisions regarding these changes in life support orders. ⋯ ICU nonsurvivors and patients who die shortly after ICU discharge predominantly die with orders to withhold or withdraw life support. Documentation on the decisions to forgo full life support is poor.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2009
Editorial CommentSpend time on patients and families or on documentation?
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2009
The diagnostic value of the upper lip bite test combined with sternomental distance, thyromental distance, and interincisor distance for prediction of easy laryngoscopy and intubation: a prospective study.
Accuracy of upper lip bite test (ULBT) has been compared with the Mallampati classification. In this study, we investigated whether the combination of the ULBT classification with sternomental distance (SMD), thyromental distance (TMD), and interincisor distance (IID) or a composite score can improve the ability to predict easy laryngoscopy and intubation compared with each test alone. ⋯ We conclude that the specificity and accuracy of the ULBT is significantly higher than the other tests and is more accurate in airway assessment. However, the ULBT in conjunction with the other tests could more reliably predict easy laryngoscopy or intubation.