Critical care explorations
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To investigate patients' experience of ICU diaries 6 months after ICU discharge among survivors. This study was designed to add insight into a large randomized study, which found no benefit of the ICU diary to post-traumatic stress disorder among critically ill patients having received mechanical ventilation. ⋯ When reading their ICU diaries, ICU survivors experienced mixed emotions, related to family messages, medical caregiving, and to the severity of their illness. Patients described diaries as a help or a hindrance to recovery, depending on their wish to remember the period or move on from it.
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To describe a ventilator and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation management strategy for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome complicated by bronchopleural and alveolopleural fistula with air leaks. ⋯ In patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome and bronchopleural and alveolopleural fistula with persistent air leaks, the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to allow for even lower ventilator settings than ultraprotective lung ventilation is safe and feasible to mediate bronchopleural and alveolopleural fistula healing.
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Propofol, ketamine, and etomidate are common anesthetic agents for induction of anesthesia in the ICU. The choice between these agents is complex and may not depend solely upon severity of illness.
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To understand the unmet needs of caregivers of ICU survivors, how they accessed support post ICU, and the key components of beneficial ICU recovery support systems as identified from a caregiver perspective. ⋯ This qualitative, multicenter, international study of caregivers of critical illness survivors identified consistently unmet needs, means by which caregivers accessed support post ICU, and several care mechanisms identified by caregivers as supporting optimal ICU recovery.
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In-hospital cardiac arrest survival among coronavirus disease 2019 patients has been reported to range from 0% to 12%. These numbers are significantly lower than reported prepandemic in-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates of approximately 20-25% in the United States for non-coronavirus disease 2019 patients. ⋯ We report a 22% survival to discharge after in-hospital cardiac arrest in coronavirus disease 2019 patients, a survival rate similar to before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.