Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 1999
Pharmacokinetics of cefpirome in critically ill patients with renal failure treated by continuous veno-venous hemofiltration.
To study the cefpirome pharmacokinetics of patients with sepsis and multiple organ failure treated with CVVH. ⋯ The sieving coefficient (64%) indicates that a substantial fraction of the drug is not filtered; clearance by pathways other than CVVH mounted to 50% of the total clearance and increased on day 2, indicating that the dosing schedule used is appropriate for this setting. Cefpirome appeared to be safe in these patients and effective for most of the nosocomial microbial isolates. During more than 90% of the time, serum levels were maintained above killing concentrations for susceptible micro-organisms.
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 1999
Comparative StudyStressors in ICU: perception of the patient, relatives and health care team.
To compare the evaluation of the stressors present in the intensive care unit (ICU) from the point of view of the patient, relatives and the multiprofessional team and to identify differences and similarities with regard to the perception of stressors in order to optimize patient care. ⋯ Being in pain, being unable to sleep and having tubes in the nose and/or mouth were pointed out as the major stressors by the three groups. There was no statistically significant correlation between the total stress scores of the patients and their relatives (r = 0.193), between the patients and the team (r = -0.002), or between the total scores of the team and the relatives (r = -0.185). The results suggest that the views of the relatives and the professional team concerning the stressors have some similar points compared to the evaluation made by the patient himself, although the intensity of the evaluation for each group corresponds to its own perception.
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Intensive care medicine · Dec 1999
Multicenter StudyMulticentric study of monitoring alarms in the adult intensive care unit (ICU): a descriptive analysis.
To assess the relevance of current monitoring alarms as a warning system in the adult ICU. ⋯ The study confirms that the level of monitoring in ICUs generates a great number of false-positive alarms.