Articles: critical-care.
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Journal of critical care · Apr 2020
Multicenter StudyC-reactive protein as a prognostic factor in intensive care admissions for sepsis: A Swedish multicenter study.
C-reactive protein (CRP) is not included in the major intensive care unit (ICU) prognostic tools such as the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS). We assessed CRP on ICU admission as a SAPS-3 independent risk marker for short-term mortality and length of stay (LOS) in ICU patients with sepsis. ⋯ An admission CRP level >100 mg/L is associated with an increased risk of ICU and 30-day mortality as well as prolonged LOS in survivors, irrespective of morbidity measured with SAPS-3. Thus, CRP may be a simple, early marker for prognosis in ICU admissions for sepsis.
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Multicenter Study
Lung Ultrasound in Emergency and Critically Ill Patients: Number of Supervised Exams to Reach Basic Competence.
Lung ultrasound is increasingly used in critically ill patients as an alternative to bedside chest radiography, but the best training method remains uncertain. This study describes a training curriculum allowing trainees to acquire basic competence. ⋯ A training curriculum including 25 transthoracic ultrasound examinations supervised by an expert provides the basic skills for diagnosing normal lung aeration, interstitial-alveolar syndrome, and consolidation in emergency and critically ill patients.
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Journal of critical care · Apr 2020
Multicenter StudyAssessing patient safety culture in 18 Tunisian adult intensive care units and determination of its associated factors: A multi-center study.
This study aimed to assess patient safety culture (PSC) in intensive care units (ICUs) and to determine the factors affecting it. ⋯ This study has shown that the PSC in ICUs needs improvement and provided a baseline results to get a clearer vision of the aspects of security that require special attention.
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Journal of critical care · Apr 2020
Multicenter StudyAssociation between organizational characteristics and adequate pain management at the intensive care unit.
Half of the patients experience pain during their ICU stay which is known to influence their outcomes. Nurses and physicians encounter organizational barriers towards pain assessment and treatment. We aimed to evaluate the association between adequate pain management and nurse to patient ratio, bed occupancy rate, and fulltime presence of an intensivist. ⋯ Higher nurse to patient ratios increase the percentage of patients with adequate pain management especially in medical and mechanically ventilated patients.
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Intensive care medicine · Apr 2020
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyMethylnaltrexone for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation and gastrointestinal stasis in intensive care patients. Results from the MOTION trial.
Constipation can be a significant problem in critically unwell patients, associated with detrimental outcomes. Opioids are thought to contribute to the mechanism of bowel dysfunction. We tested if methylnaltrexone, a pure peripheral mu-opioid receptor antagonist, could reverse opioid-induced constipation. ⋯ We found no evidence to support the addition of methylnaltrexone to regular laxatives for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation in critically ill patients; however, the confidence interval was wide and a clinically important difference cannot be excluded.