Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2017
Delayed Referral Results in Missed Opportunities for Organ Donation After Circulatory Death.
Rates of organ donation and transplantation have steadily increased in the United States and Canada over the past decade, largely attributable to a notable increase in donation after circulatory death. However, the number of patients awaiting solid organ transplantation continues to remain much higher than the number of organs transplanted each year. The objective of this study was to determine the potential to increase donation rates further by identifying gaps in the well-established donation after circulatory death process in Ontario. ⋯ The number of medically suitable patients who die within 2 hours of planned withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy is nearly six times higher than the number of actual organ donors, with the greatest loss of potential due to delayed referral until at the time of or after planned withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy. Intensive care teams are not meeting their ethical responsibility to recognize impending death and appropriately refer potential organ donors to the local organ procurement organization. In cases where patients had previously registered their consent decision, they were denied a healthcare right.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2017
Impact of Targeted Interventions on Trends in Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection: A Single-Center Experience From the Republic of Korea.
To assess the impact of targeted interventions on trends in central line-associated bloodstream infection. ⋯ Targeted interventions were associated with significant changes in trends in the occurrence rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in ICUs and the entire hospital.