ICU Management & Practice, ICU Volume 5 - Issue 1 - Spring 2005

Sharing Knowledge in Intensive Care

Thank you to all of you who kindly supported the launch of ICU Management. Over 2000 copies of the first issue were circulated during the ESICM congress in Berlin last year, where the journal was warmly received by professionals from all disciplines related to intensive care. ICU Management aims to disseminate information on the management, organization and implementation of evidence-based practices...

Management Highlights from ISICEM

Author Jean-Louis Vincent, Head, Department of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital, Free University of Brussels, Belgium This year, the ISICEM is celebrating its 25th anniversary! Twenty-five years ago, in a university building, 200 doctors and 5 faculty members met for the very first ISICEM. The concept was that the meeting would promote intensive care medicine, then still a very young hospital...

Research in Europe at Stake

Author Helicia Herman Editor European Affairs Correspondence [email protected] Concerns voiced before the EU Clinical Trials Directive (2001/20/EC) came into force are rising regarding the potential threat the Directive poses to non-commercial clinical trials. Introduction In May 2001 the EU Directive 2001/20/EC implementing Good Clinical Practice (GCP) for clinical trials was pu...

The EU’s Clinical Trials Directive: The Potential for Inconsistent

Ethical Practices in Clinical Trials Author Henry J. Silverman,MD, MA Department of Medicine University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore,MD Correspondence [email protected] This article describes the lack of specification of the European Union’s (EU) Clinical Trials Directive regarding proxy consent and safeguards for vulnerable subjects. This failing could lea...

Press Release - The Performance Series™One Series Fits all™

Contact Carol Seroussi Hospital Products manager Manuëla Leurent European Marketing Communication Planner Respironics International Website www.respironics.com. medicine.umaryland.edu Correspondence [email protected] The efficacy of noninvasive ventilation is largely dependent on the reliable performance of patient interfaces. With the Performance Series, our goal i...

Products, Companies and Research

Contact Dräger Medical www.Dräger-medical.com GE Healthcare www.gehealthcare.com Gurit Medical/ Medisize Business www.gurit.com www.medisize.com Maquet www.maquet.com/criticalcare/ Radiometer www.radiometer.com Smiths Medical www.smiths-medical.com www.medex.com Dräger - New Products, New Concepts Dräger Medical released a portfolio of products and concepts at Medica...

Medical Futility in Intensive Care

Author Robert D. Truog,MD Division of Medical Ethics, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA Division of Critical Care Medicine Children’s Hospital Boston, MA, USA Correspondance [email protected] What should be done when patients and families demand futile care? Recent advances in American law and ethics now provide a pathway for resolving these conflicts. Int...

Managing a Patient’s Refusal of Vital Supports

Author N. Zamperetti, MD, PhD Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine San Bortolo Hospital, Vicenza, Italy Correspondance [email protected] Managing the request of an ICU patient to forgo intensive supports can be extremely difficult. Keepingdifferent decision levels distinct, evaluating the patient’s competence and building effective relationshipsamong the pat...

Patient Privacy Versus Teamwork and Surrogate Decision Making

Author Tom Woodcock, MB.BS M.Phil FRCA Director, General Intensive Care Unit and Chair Clinical Ethics Group Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust Professor Woodcock provides thought-provoking case studies to help train intensivists on how to handle the sometimes complex legal and ethical issues affecting decisions over patient privacy. Isobel is an unmarried 20-year old student. She...

Rationing and Triage of Admissions to Intensive Care

Authors C. D. Gomersall MBBS G.M. Joynt MBBCh Dept of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care The Chinese University of Hong Kong Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong Website www.cuhk.edu.hk/med/ans/med_ans.htm Correspondence [email protected] This article discusses the ethical basis of triage, current data related to triage and makes a plea for a consensus on definition...

German Competence Network for the Study of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock (SepNet)

Authors Frank Martin Brunkhorst, MD Konrad Reinhart, MD for the SepNet Investigators Dept of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany Correspondence [email protected] Drs Brunkhorst and Reinhart provide an update on the SepNet infrastructure and two scientific projects, which it supports, VISEP and PREVALENCE. SepNe...

Does Bedside Blood Gas Analysis Reduce Costs in the ICU?

Authors Jan Poelaert, MD, PhD International Research Centre and Cardiac Centre Ghent University, Belgium Guido Schüpfer, MD, MBA HSG Institut für Anästhesie, Kantonsspital Luzern Correspondence [email protected] The design of studies to measure the costs of blood gas analysis in intensive care is difficult, with few studies reported to date. However, the authors advocate...

Infusion Pumps

Introduction ECRI is a totally independent non profit research agency designated as a Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organization (WHO). Such organizations are appointed to contribute to WHO's public health mission by providing specialized knowledge, expertise, and support in the health field to the WHO and its member nations. Established as an Emergency Care Research Institute, ECRI open...

Needs of the Families of Dying Patients

Authors Alexander Wilmer, MD, PhD Wouter Meersseman ,MD Dirk Delva SW Johan Bruggeman RN Medical Intensive Care Unit UZ Gasthuisberg Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium Correspondence [email protected] Professor Wilmer and his colleagues report a study showing that honesty, assurance that patients are not suffering and liberal visiting hours are the most import...

Open Visiting Hours in the Adult ICU

Authors J.-M. Boles MD A. Boumediene MD L. Dy, MD E. L’Her, MD A. Renault, MD Affiliation Medical Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital Hôpital de la Cavale Blanche Brest Cedex, France Correspondence [email protected] Open visiting hours are part of a global policy to help families cope with the stress and difficulties of having a relative hospitalized...

Managing Staff Levels: A Prerequisite to Control Rate and Appropriateness of ICU Resource Use

Author G. Iapichino Istituto di Anestesiologia e Rianimazione dell’Università degli Studi di Milano Azienda Ospedaliera – Polo Universitario San Paolo, Milano, Italy Correspondence [email protected] Acknowledgement I am deeply indebted to Dinis Reis Miranda, Danilo Radrizzani and Guido Bertolini for the concepts presented in this article. Professor Iapichino and hi...

Is Rescheduling Surgery a Viable Solution to Triage?

Authors J. Albers, MD PhD ICU Head C.-F. Vahl MD PhD Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department Head Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany Correspondence [email protected] G. Van den Berghe, MD PhD Director of the Department of Surgical Intensive Care University Hospital, Gasthuisberg Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium Correspondence greta.vandenberghe@med....

Allocation of ICU Resources: First Come First Serve vs. Service When Needed

Author Jukka Takala, MD, PhD Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, Director and Chief Physician, Clinic of Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Bern (Inselspital) Bern, Switzerland Correspondence [email protected] In response to the preceding comments by Professor Van den Berghe, Dr Albers and Professor Vahl,Professor Takala discusses their viewpoints and explains the sol...

intensive care, ICU, management, leadership

An Interview with Professor Hans Flaatten on Management in Intensive Care

Researcher and head of intensive care at Haukeland University Hospital, Professor Hans Flaatten believes that two goals essential to quality intensive care are good intra- and inter-team cooperation and respect, and constantly implementing the latest research findings into intensive care guidelines and practice. Introduction Professor Hans Flaatten has been the Medical Director of the Intensive Care Un...

French Healthcare System

The French healthcare system is one of the most advanced but also most expensive in Europe. A major review of the health system in 1996 introduced new regulations aimed at limiting the growth of health expenditure. These regulations led to much tighter government controls of public and private hospitals, as well as ambulatory care services, to rationalize the supply of health care. The provision of F...

Structure, Organization and Practice of Critical Care Medicine in France

Authors Pierre-Edouard Bollaert Service de Réanimation médicale, Hôpital Central Nancy Cedex, France on the behalf of the Société de Réanimation de Langue Française Claude Martin Département d’Anesthésie- Réanimation Centre de Traumatologie, Marseille Cedex, France on the behalf of the Société Française d’Anesthésie- Réanimation Correspondence pe.bollaert@chu-nancy....

French Intensive Care Associations

Société Française d’Anesthésie-Réanimation The aims of this state-approved Society have been to study, promote and teach anaesthesia and intensive care since 1991, and additionally since 1998 to promote safety in all procedures carried out by intensivists and anaesthetists. Activities of the Society include: • the organization of scientific meetings, national congresses, consensus and expert m...

ESICM Annual Congress: Linking Berlin to Amsterdam

Authors European Society of Intensive Care Medicine Rui Moreno, MD Chairman of the Division of Scientific Affairs & Chairman of the Congress Committee Dermot Phelan FJFICM, FFARCSI Chairman of the Division of Professional Development & Chairman of the Education and Training Committee Website www.esicm.org Correspondence [email protected] Drs Moreno and Phelan review las...