Current opinion in critical care
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2006
ReviewFebrile respiratory illness in the intensive care unit setting: an infection control perspective.
We have examined studies published since the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak that elucidate the mode of transmission of respiratory pathogens and the optimal means of interrupting their transmission, focusing on transmission in the intensive care unit. ⋯ Most respiratory pathogens can be transmitted by more than one route. Despite this, healthcare worker awareness of clinical syndromes associated with respiratory pathogens that require airborne precautions, combined with the use of standard precautions for all patients, and contact/droplet precautions for patients with undifferentiated febrile respiratory illness should be effective in interrupting the transmission of respiratory pathogens within the intensive care unit.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2006
ReviewDeveloping and managing a team to participate in trials involving acute respiratory failure: advice for the inexperienced.
Conducting large-scale clinical trials in the field of acute respiratory failure requires substantial collaboration. Teamwork is still in its infancy within the realm of clinical research. This review evaluates the need for and grassroots process of teamwork and considers the challenges facing teamwork in the specific context of conducting acute respiratory failure research today. ⋯ As large-scale (oftentimes international) multicenter trials are increasingly providing answers to our research questions, greater emphasis must be placed on team building within the clinical research environment. An urgent need for further work in this area is revealed. Critical care fellowships should integrate teamwork skills into the curriculum.