Neurocritical care
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Inter-hospital patient transfers for neurocritical care are increasingly common due to increased regionalization for acute care, including stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage. This process of transfer is uniquely vulnerable to errors and risk given numerous handoffs involving multiple providers, from several disciplines, located at different institutions. We present failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) as a systems engineering methodology that can be applied to neurocritical care transitions to reduce failures in communication and improve patient safety. Specifically, we describe our local implementation of FMEA to improve the safety of inter-hospital transfer for patients with intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhage as evidence of success. ⋯ Application of the FMEA approach yielded meaningful and sustained process change for patients with neurocritical care needs. Utilization of FMEA as a change instrument for quality improvement is a powerful tool for programs looking to improve timely communication, resource utilization, and ultimately patient safety.
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Observational Study
Cerebrospinal Fluid Lactate Levels, Brain Lactate Metabolism and Neurologic Outcome in Patients with Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum lactate levels were assessed to predict poor neurologic outcome 3 months after return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). We compared arterio-CSF differences in the lactate (ACDL) levels between two neurologic outcome groups. ⋯ At each time point, CSF lactate showed better prognostic performance than serum lactate. CSF lactate24 showed the highest prognostic performance for 3-month poor neurologic outcome. Over time, ACDL decreased in the poor neurologic outcome group and increased in the good neurologic outcome group.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Global Characterisation of Coagulopathy in Isolated Traumatic Brain Injury (iTBI): A CENTER-TBI Analysis.
Trauma-induced coagulopathy in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with high rates of complications, unfavourable outcomes and mortality. The mechanism of the development of TBI-associated coagulopathy is poorly understood. ⋯ Consideration of these factors enables early prediction and risk stratification of acute coagulopathy after TBI, thus guiding clinical management.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation and High-Protein Supplementation After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Single-Center Phase 2 Randomized Clinical Trial.
Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) survivors live with long-term residual physical and cognitive disability. We studied whether neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) and high-protein supplementation (HPRO) in the first 2 weeks after SAH could preserve neuromotor and cognitive function as compared to standard of care (SOC) for nutrition and mobilization. ⋯ NMES + HPRO appears to be feasible and safe acutely after SAH and may reduce acute quadriceps muscle wasting with a lasting benefit on recovery after SAH.