Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Sep 2017
ReviewThe status of intensive care medicine research and a future agenda for very old patients in the ICU.
The "very old intensive care patients" (abbreviated to VOPs; greater than 80 years old) are probably the fastest expanding subgroup of all intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Up until recently most ICU physicians have been reluctant to admit these VOPs. ⋯ More appropriate triage (resource limitation enforced decisions), admission decisions based on shared decision-making and improved prediction models are also needed for this particular patient group. Here, an expert panel proposes a research agenda for VOPs for the coming years.
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Intensive care medicine · Sep 2017
ReviewThe ICM research agenda on intensive care unit-acquired weakness.
We present areas of uncertainty concerning intensive care unit-acquired weakness (ICUAW) and identify areas for future research. Age, pre-ICU functional and cognitive state, concurrent illness, frailty, and health trajectories impact outcomes and should be assessed to stratify patients. In the ICU, early assessment of limb and diaphragm muscle strength and function using nonvolitional tests may be useful, but comparison with established methods of global and specific muscle strength and physical function and determination of their reliability and normal values would be important to advance these techniques. ⋯ At follow-up, ICU survivors may suffer from prolonged muscle weakness and wasting and other physical impairments, as well as fatigue without demonstrable weakness on examination. Further studies should evaluate the prevalence and severity of fatigue in ICU survivors and define its association with psychiatric disorders, pain, cognitive impairment, and axonal loss. Finally, methodological issues, including accounting for baseline status, handling of missing data, and inclusion of patient-centered outcome measures should be addressed in future studies.
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Intensive care medicine · Sep 2017
ReviewThe intensive care medicine research agenda on multidrug-resistant bacteria, antibiotics, and stewardship.
To concisely describe the current standards of care, major recent advances, common beliefs that have been contradicted by recent trials, areas of uncertainty, and clinical studies that need to be performed over the next decade and their expected outcomes with regard to the management of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, antibiotic use, and antimicrobial stewardship in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting. ⋯ These and other fundamental questions need to be addressed over the next decade in order to better understand how to prevent, diagnose, and treat MDR bacterial infections. Clinical studies described in this research agenda provide a template and set priorities for investigations that should be performed in this field.
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Intensive care medicine · Sep 2017
ReviewThe intensive care medicine clinical research agenda in paediatrics.
Intensive Care Medicine set us the task of outlining a global clinical research agenda for paediatric intensive care (PIC). In line with the clinical focus of this journal, we have limited this to research that may directly influence patient care. ⋯ Paediatric intensive care research has never been healthier, but many gaps in knowledge remain. We need to close these urgently. The impact of new knowledge will be greatest in resource-limited environments.