Articles: outcome.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jul 2001
Prospective documentation of sedative, analgesic, and neuromuscular blocking agent use in infants and children in the intensive care unit: A multicenter perspective.
To describe the use of neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA) in critically ill children. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Two pediatric intensive care units (ICUs). PATIENTS: All children who received NMBA in the ICUs during the study year. INTERVENTIONS: None Measurements: Data on use of NMBA agents and concurrent use of narcotic and sedative agents were collected. Demographic and outcome information was also obtained. MAIN ⋯ Use of NMBA is more common in critically ill children than in reported studies of critically ill adults. Use of NMBA in critically ill children is associated with high severity of illness and mortality rates. Choice of NMBA and method of administration varies among providers. Concurrent use of narcotic and sedative agents with NMBA is frequent, but medication choice also varies among medical providers.
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Background: Insomnia is a prevalent health complaint that is often difficult to evaluate reliably. There is an important need for brief and valid assessment tools to assist practitioners in the clinical evaluation of insomnia complaints. Objective: This paper reports on the clinical validation of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) as a brief screening measure of insomnia and as an outcome measure in treatment research. ⋯ In addition, there is a close convergence between scores obtained from the ISI patient's version and those from the clinician's and significant other's versions. Conclusions: The present findings indicate that the ISI is a reliable and valid instrument to quantify perceived insomnia severity. The ISI is likely to be a clinically useful tool as a screening device or as an outcome measure in insomnia treatment research.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Jun 2001
Ventilator-associated pneumonia complicating the acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Pulmonary infections span a wide spectrum, ranging from self-limited processes (e.g., tracheobronchitis) to life-threatening infections including both community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP). Together, pneumonia and influenza rank as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and lead all other infectious diseases in this respect. Pneumonia is the second-most-common hospital-acquired infection in the United States, accounting for 17.8% of all hospital-acquired infections and 40,000 to 70,000 deaths per year. ⋯ The greater hospital mortality associated with these "high-risk'' pathogens has been attributed to the virulence of these bacteria and the increased occurrence of inadequate initial antibiotic treatment of VAP due to the presence of antibiotic resistance. This review provides an overview of the clinical importance of VAP. We then describe how this nosocomial infection influences the management and outcomes of patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
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Early reports of late outcomes among survivors of ARDS indicated that most patients improved dramatically after their intensive care unit stay, and few lived with residua of their once-severe pulmonary injury. Over the last decade, a collection of new studies with improved methodology and novel questions has improved our understanding of life after ARDS. After reviewing these newer investigations in the context of previously published literature, we have drawn several preliminary conclusions: (1) Long-term survival after hospital discharge is unaffected by ARDS, but is strongly affected by ARDS risk factor and comorbidities. (2) Respiratory symptoms after ARDS are more prevalent than previously indicated, but improve over the first 12 months of recovery. (3) Pulmonary function testing reveals marked impairment soon after ARDS. ⋯ A small group of patients have severe impairment without improvement. (4) Quality of life, functional independence, and cognitive function are severely affected by ARDS, with dramatic improvement over the first year. Quality of life is lower than in matched critically ill controls. (5) Significant numbers of ARDS survivors suffer from posttraumatic stress syndrome. This is an exciting time for research in long-term outcomes of ARDS, with potential for future studies that validate these single-center hypotheses, explore their ramifications, and investigate the impacts of changing practices in the intensive care unit in the acute phase of ARDS.
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This study was designed to investigate the clinical efficacy of fluoroscopically guided therapeutic cervical selective nerve root blocks (SNRBs) in patients with whiplash induced cervical radicular pain. Study design was restrospective with independent clinical review. Twenty two patients were included. ⋯ Good or excellent results were observed in 14% of patients. In higher functioning individuals a significantly greater (F=.0427) improvement in pain of 48.9% was observed. In these initial findings suggest that fluoroscopically guided therapeutic SNRBs, except possibly for higher functioning individuals, are not effective in the treatment of whiplash induced cervical radicular pain.