Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2017
Review Meta AnalysisEarly Goal-Directed Therapy for Sepsis: A Novel Solution for Discordant Survival Outcomes in Clinical Trials.
Early goal-directed therapy has shown discordant survival outcomes in sepsis studies. We aim to find the reasons for this discordance. ⋯ Survival discordance was not associated with differences in early goal-directed therapy bundle compliance or hemodynamic goal achievement. Our results suggest that it was associated with faster and more appropriate antibiotic co-intervention in the early goal-directed therapy arm compared with controls in the observational studies but not in the randomized trials. Early goal-directed therapy was associated with increased mortality in patients with high-disease severity.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2017
Increased Time to Initial Antimicrobial Administration Is Associated With Progression to Septic Shock in Severe Sepsis Patients.
To determine if time to initial antimicrobial is associated with progression of severe sepsis to septic shock. ⋯ This study emphasizes the importance of early, broad-spectrum antimicrobial administration in severe sepsis patients admitted through the emergency department, as longer time to initial antimicrobial administration is associated with increased progression of severe sepsis to septic shock and increased mortality.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2017
Review Meta AnalysisMeta-Analysis of Therapeutic Hypothermia for Traumatic Brain Injury in Adult and Pediatric Patients.
Therapeutic hypothermia has been used to attenuate the effects of traumatic brain injuries. However, the required degree of hypothermia, length of its use, and its timing are uncertain. We undertook a comprehensive meta-analysis to quantify benefits of hypothermia therapy for traumatic brain injuries in adults and children by analyzing mortality rates, neurologic outcomes, and adverse effects. ⋯ Therapeutic hypothermia is likely a beneficial treatment following traumatic brain injuries in adults but cannot be recommended in children.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2017
Multicenter StudyImproving ICU-Based Palliative Care Delivery: A Multicenter, Multidisciplinary Survey of Critical Care Clinician Attitudes and Beliefs.
Addressing the quality gap in ICU-based palliative care is limited by uncertainty about acceptable models of collaborative specialist and generalist care. Therefore, we characterized the attitudes of physicians and nurses about palliative care delivery in an ICU environment. ⋯ Integration of palliative care specialists in the ICU is broadly acceptable and desired. However, the most commonly used current triggers for prompting specialist consultation were among the least well accepted, while more favorable triggers are difficult to abstract from electronic health record systems. There is also disagreement about the role of ICU nurses in palliative care delivery. These findings provide important guidance to the development of collaborative care models for the ICU setting.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 2017
Multicenter Study Observational StudyFever in the Emergency Department Predicts Survival of Patients With Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Admitted to the ICU.
To study the prognostic value of fever in the emergency department in septic patients subsequently admitted to the ICU. ⋯ Contrary to common perceptions and current guidelines for care of critically ill septic patients, increased body temperature in the emergency department was strongly associated with lower mortality and shorter hospital stays in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock subsequently admitted to the ICU.