ICU Management & Practice, Volume 24 - Issue 2, 2024
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Editorial
Decision-Making in the ICU
Decision-making in the ICU is a multifaceted process that involves clinical assessment, collaboration among multidisciplinary teams, ethical considerations, evidence-based practice, communication, and continuous adaptation to evolving clinical scenarios. Balancing the complex factors requires expertise, teamwork, and a patient-centred approach. Improving the decision-making process in ICUs is crucial fo...
Cover Story
Dealing With Uncertainty in ICU Decision-Making: A Practical Guide
When the stakes are high, and the path ahead is uncertain, the decisions made, especially if a patient continues to worsen, can be sources of self-torment and can haunt us for a long time. Our goal is to suggest ways to steer decision-making for intensivists in the face of uncertainty by proposing a clear, practical, stepwise approach through the creation of a new algorithm that reflects our common goal...
The Least Bad Decision: Crisis Standards of Care After the Pandemic
COVID-19 was an emergency that lasted for years and left few regions of the world untouched. The pandemic shone a spotlight on both the strengths and weaknesses of our disaster planning. What worked, what did not, and how can we better plan for future emergencies? The COVID-19 pandemic forced hospitals and health systems around the world to confront shortages on a massive scale. Previous public health...
Decision-Making in the PICU: Ethical Aspects in Paediatric Critical Patients
This article highlights some particularities to be considered when making decisions in paediatric ICUs and the role of parents (or legal guardians) and the physician in the dilemma involved in paediatric decision-making. In these times, an ill individual is believed to be an autonomous moral agent to make decisions regarding their health. Decision-making inevitably requires correct information tha...
Decision-Making in Uncertainty: Time-Limited Trials
An overview of time-limited trials (TLT), collaborative agreements between the treating team and the patient to apply life-sustaining therapies to help reduce prognostic uncertainty and foster trust between teams and patients and/or patient surrogates. Medical indication and a patient's consent form the basis of every diagnostic or therapeutic medical measure (Milliken and Sadovnikoff 2023). In int...
Patient and Family Partnerships in the ICU: History, Benefits, and Strategies for the Future
The seamless integration of patient- and family-centred care in the critical care setting remains elusive. This review discusses the history and benefits of patient- and family-centred care, plus strategies for partnering with patients and families in the critical care setting. Patient and family partnerships in the intensive care unit (ICU) are an essential element of quality healthcare. Leading s...
When Hospitals Shrink: Preventing Loss of Hospital Beds Through Effective Bed Management
With an ageing population and more sophisticated treatments, hospitals must become more bed-efficient or risk contracting. Strategic management is needed since ineffective bed management can reduce bed availability. There are multiple challenges for healthcare institutions in the coming decades. Important demographic changes are taking place in most countries in the world, demonstrating a progressi...
Beyond the Monitors: Redefining Connection in Intensive Care Family Meetings
Family dynamics in ICU meetings are complex and often affected by emotions, stress, and differing perspectives. Effective communication and collaboration amid family members and healthcare professionals are crucial for steering these dynamics, facilitating shared decision-making, and assuring the best feasible patient’s care. Intensive care unit (ICU) teams often face various challenges when cari...
Other Feature Articles
Anti-Inflammatory Therapies for Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Emerging evidence highlights the potential advantages of employing anti-inflammatory therapies like macrolide antibiotics and corticosteroids in managing severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Although their use remains a subject of debate, recent findings indicate improved clinical outcomes, and support the adoption of a tailored approach that emphasises personalised medicine strategies to optimise...
Errors in Nursing Interventions in Critically Ill Patients: Less is More
In the treatment of critically ill patients, evidence-based nursing practices are essential, highlighting the need for precision in procedural management. This discussion identifies nine common errors encountered in clinical practice. Patient care is the essence of the nursing profession, focusing on the preservation, restoration, and promotion of self-care, currently based on evidence-based nursin...
Agenda
Upcoming Events/Congresses
24-27 12th EuroELSO Congress 2024 Krakow, Poland https://iii.hm/1pcp 25-26 20th Annual Critical Care Symposium Manchester, United Kingdom https://iii.hm/1pcq 25-26 13th Ultrasound In Acute Care 2024 Manchester, United Kingdom https://iii.hm/1pcr 25-27 Urgent Care Updates 2024 Anaheim, United States https://iii.hm/1pcs 27-30 34th ECCMID 2024 Barc...