Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Mar 2003
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical TrialHelium-oxygen versus air-oxygen noninvasive pressure support in decompensated chronic obstructive disease: A prospective, multicenter study.
To study whether noninvasive pressure support ventilation (NIPSV) with helium/oxygen (He/oxygen), which can reduce dyspnea, PaCO2, and work of breathing more than NIPSV with air/oxygen in decompensated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, could have beneficial consequences on outcome and hospitalization costs. ⋯ He/oxygen did not significantly reduce intubation rate or intensive care unit stay, but hospital stay was shorter and total costs were lower. He/oxygen NIPSV can be safely administered and could prove to be a cost-effective strategy.
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Critical care medicine · Mar 2003
Comparative StudyDiscrepant attitudes about teamwork among critical care nurses and physicians.
To measure and compare critical care physicians' and nurses' attitudes about teamwork. ⋯ Critical care physicians and nurses have discrepant attitudes about the teamwork they experience with each other. As evidenced by individual item content, this discrepancy includes suboptimal conflict resolution and interpersonal communication skills. These findings may be the result of the differences in status/authority, responsibilities, gender, training, and nursing and physician cultures.
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Critical care medicine · Mar 2003
Review Meta AnalysisPredictive value of somatosensory evoked potentials for awakening from coma.
A systematic review of somatosensory evoked potentials performed early after onset of coma, to predict the likelihood of nonawakening. The pooled results were evaluated for rates of awakening, confidence intervals, and the possibility of rare exceptions. ⋯ Somatosensory evoked potential results predict the likelihood of nonawakening from coma with a high level of certainty. Adults in coma from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy with absent somatosensory evoked potential responses have <1% chance of awakening.