Search Tag: critically ill patients
2019 16 Dec
In critically ill children, transfusion is quite frequent. A 2009-2010 study reports that approximately 10 to 20% of critically ill children received a blood cell transfusion. The primary goal of transfusions in critically ill patients is to improve oxygen delivery and to prevent shock, organ failure, and death. Hospitals store red blood cells...Read more
2019 26 Aug
Masimo announced today that in a randomized controlled study involving 150 ICU patients recently published as a letter in Intensive Care Medicine, researchers investigated whether monitoring with Masimo ORi™ (Oxygen Reserve Index) could reduce the time critically ill patients spend with moderate hyperoxia, compared to monitoring with oxygen saturation...Read more
2019 09 Aug
There is currently doubt over the terms stable and unstable regarding cardiovascular dynamics in critically ill patients. Labelling a patient as haemodynamically stable or unstable can have different connotations depending on the practising physician. The term stable is originally defined as the condition of the patient being unchanged for a substantial...Read more
2019 03 Aug
Patients admitted to the ICU have a high mortality rate. Even those who survive the stay tend to suffer from long-term morbidity and reduced quality of life. Critically ill patients frequently present with low blood pressure, oliguria, and skin mottling. These are the signs that usually guide treatment. Most critical care guidelines on the management...Read more
2019 30 May
Respiratory pathologies are among the most common causes of admission to critical care. Respiratory physiotherapy represents a fundamental part of the standard practice in ICU. The following review provides a practical and feasible description of the main physiotherapeutic tools and strategies that can be applied to critically ill patients....Read more
2019 30 May
Dexmedetomidine is used to sedate patients while maintaining a certain degree of sustainability. The use of dexmedetomidine is known to reduce the duration of mechanical ventilation and delirium among patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, its use as the sole sedative agent in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation has not been studied...Read more
2019 23 Apr
A Johns Hopkins-led study on sedation practices in critically ill patients in a resource-limited setting finds that deep sedation, agitation, and benzodiazepines were independently associated with worse clinical outcomes. The study's main objective was to determine the relationship between sedation status and 90-day mortality. Study results...Read more
2018 03 Oct
Antimicrobials, specifically beta-lactam antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed drugs in the management of critically ill patients. However, pathophysiological factors in these patients can often lead to altered pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of beta-lactams. While choosing the most appropriate antimicrobial is critical, determining...Read more
2018 13 Aug
There is a significant association between corticosteroid use and intensive care unit-acquired weakness, according to results of a systematic review and meta-analysis. Thus, exposure to corticosteroids should be limited, or the administration time should be shortened in clinical practice to reduce the risk of ICU-acquired weakness in adult patients,...Read more
2018 16 Mar
The complex nature of the multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) requires an integrated supportive therapy. Native organs have a continuous crosstalk and have in common in most cases an altered composition of the blood circulating and perfusing them. In this article we describe the concept of extracorporeal organ support (ECOS) for the treatment...Read more
2018 06 Mar
Results of a randomised, placebo-controlled trial showed that a low dose of the sedative dexmedetomidine given at night may prevent delirium in critically ill patients. In this study of 100 ICU patients, half of them were randomly assigned to receive intravenous dexmedetomidine; the other half were given the placebo. The trial published online in...Read more
2018 22 Feb
Renal function in critically ill patients has been routinely assessed with the objective of detecting renal impairment and adjusting drug doses. Although augmented renal clearance (ARC) has also been identified in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, ARC is a less well-studied phenomenon that could lead to faster elimination of drugs. A new systematic...Read more
2018 23 Jan
It is estimated that 22–57% of critically ill patients develop acute kidney injury (AKI) during their hospitalisation. The increasing incidence of AKI has the immediate effect of a growing need for renal replacement therapy (RRT). However, evidence on how to manage RRT in critically ill patients with AKI remains limited because of ambiguous study results...Read more
2017 05 Sep
Hepatic dysfunction and jaundice are traditionally viewed as late features of sepsis and other critical illnesses. Identifying true cholestatic liver dysfunction is difficult given the lack of specificity of standard laboratory tests, especially in the context of a complex systemic condition as critical illness. However, very high levels of cholestatic...Read more
2017 02 Jun
According to an article published in Critical Care Nurse, the routine use of acid-suppressive therapy for all hospitalised patients including all critically ill patients, is inappropriate and should only be limited to patients who actually need them and meet specific criteria. Due to the fact that critically ill patients are at an increased risk...Read more