Articles: critical-care.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of the Serious Illness Care Program on Health Care Utilization at the End of Life for Patients with Cancer.
Objectives: To determine the effect of the Serious Illness Care Program on health care utilization at the end of life in oncology. Design: Analysis of the secondary outcome of health care utilization as part of a cluster-randomized clinical trial that ran from 2012 to 2016. Clinicians in the intervention group received training, coaching, and system supports to have discussions with patients using a Serious Illness Conversation Guide (SICG); clinicians in the control arm followed usual care. ⋯ Neither the main outcome of mean number of aggressive indicators (0.9 vs. 0.9, p = 0.84) nor the proportion of patients with any aggressive care (49% intervention [95% CI: 40-57] vs. 54% control [95% CI: 42-67]) differed between patients in the intervention and control groups. Conclusion: In this analysis of a secondary outcome from a randomized clinical trial of the Serious Illness Care Program, intervention and control patients had similar end-of-life health care utilization as measured by the mean number of NQF-endorsed indicators. Future research efforts should focus on studying the strategies by which communication about patients' prognosis, values, and goals leads to personalized care plans.
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Gen Hosp Psychiatry · Sep 2020
Randomized Controlled TrialImplementing an intensive care unit (ICU) diary program at a large academic medical center: Results from a randomized control trial evaluating psychological morbidity associated with critical illness.
Psychological morbidity in both patients and family members related to the intensive care unit (ICU) experience is an often overlooked, and potentially persistent, healthcare problem recognized by the Society of Critical Care Medicine as Post-intensive Care Syndrome (PICS). ICU diaries are an intervention increasingly under study with potential to mitigate ICU-related psychological morbidity, including ICU-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. As we encounter a growing number of ICU survivors, in particular in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, clinicians must be equipped to understand the severity and prevalence of significant psychiatric complications of critical illness. ⋯ Results from psychological screening tools demonstrate no benefit of ICU diaries versus bedside education-alone in reducing PTSD symptoms related to the intensive care stay. However, our study finds an important gap in clinical practice - patients at high risk for PICS are infrequently connected to appropriate follow-up care. Perhaps ICU diaries would prove beneficial if utilized to support the work within a program providing wrap-around services and close psychiatric follow up for PICS patients. This study demonstrates the high prevalence of ICU-related PTSD in our cohort of survivors, the high barrier to accessing care for appropriate treatment of PICS, and the consequence of that barrier-prolonged psychological morbidity.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Cytokine and lipid metabolome effects of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid in critically ill patients with systemic inflammation: a pilot, feasibility, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.
The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is a dysregulated response that contributes to critical illness. Adjunctive acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) treatment may offer beneficial effects by increasing the synthesis of specialised proresolving mediators (a subset of polyunsaturated fatty acid-derived lipid mediators). ⋯ In ICU patients with SIRS, low-dose ASA did not significantly alter serum IL-6 concentrations, but it did affect plasma concentrations of certain lipid mediators. The ability to measure lipid mediators in clinical samples and to monitor the effect of ASA on their levels unlocks a potential area of biological investigation in critical care.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Sep 2020
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyEffect of non-sedation on posttraumatic stress and psychological health in survivors of critical illness.
Critical illness can cause post-traumatic stress and impaired mental health. The NONSEDA trial was a Scandinavian multicenter RCT, assessing non-sedation versus sedation with a daily wake-up call during mechanical ventilation in critically ill adults. The aim of this substudy was to assess the effect of non-sedation on post-traumatic stress and mental health. ⋯ Levels of PTSD, anxiety and depression and quality of life regarding mental health were similar between the non-sedated and sedated group.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Sodium bicarbonate therapy for metabolic acidosis in critically ill patients: a survey of Australian and New Zealand intensive care clinicians.
To help shape the design of a future double blind placebo-controlled randomised clinical trial of bicarbonate therapy for metabolic acidosis, based on opinions of intensive care clinicians in Australia and New Zealand. ⋯ This survey offers important insights into the preferences of Australian and New Zealand clinicians in regards to any future randomised controlled trial of bicarbonate therapy for metabolic acidosis in the critically ill.