Critical care medicine
-
Critical care medicine · Feb 2008
How decisions are made to admit patients to medical intensive care units (MICUs): a survey of MICU directors at academic medical centers across the United States.
To determine how medical intensive care unit (MICU) admission decisions are made at U.S. academic MICUs and to learn how these practices compare with the recommendations of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the American Thoracic Society. ⋯ Significant practice variability exists across U.S. academic MICUs regarding how decisions are made to admit patients to the ICU. The majority of academic MICUs in the United States do not strictly employ ICU admission and restriction guidelines, as recommended by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the American Thoracic Society.
-
Critical care medicine · Feb 2008
Review Meta AnalysisContinuous versus intermittent renal replacement therapy for critically ill patients with acute kidney injury: a meta-analysis.
To appraise the literature on the effect of initial renal replacement therapy (RRT) modality on clinical outcomes. ⋯ We identified numerous issues related to study design, conduct, and quality that dispute the validity and question any inferences that can be drawn from these trials. In the context of these limitations, the initial RRT modality did not seem to affect mortality or recovery to RRT independence. There is urgent need for additional high-quality and suitably powered trials to adequately address this issue.
-
Critical care medicine · Feb 2008
Multicenter StudyValidation of the Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis (MEDS) score in patients with the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS).
To prospectively and externally validate the Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis (MEDS) score as a predictor of 28-day mortality in patients who present to the emergency department with a systemic inflammatory response syndrome. ⋯ The MEDS score accurately predicts 28-day mortality in patients who present to the emergency department with systemic inflammatory response syndrome and who are admitted to the hospital.
-
Critical care medicine · Feb 2008
Surviving meningococcal septic shock: health consequences and quality of life in children and their parents up to 2 years after pediatric intensive care unit discharge.
To assess health consequences and health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) in children with meningococcal septic shock up to 2 yrs after discharge from the pediatric intensive care unit and to assess their parents. To determine major predictors of that outcome. ⋯ Up to 2 yrs after discharge from the pediatric intensive care unit, there is still a considerable effect on health and HR-QoL in children, especially on the physical scales. Severity of illness and chronic complaints negatively affected HR-QoL scales in children. Quite a few mothers suffered from emotional problems.