Critical care clinics
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The neuroendocrine stress response is a dynamic process involving multiple hormonal alterations with distinct features in the acute and chronic phase of critical illness. In the initial response to an acute stress event, the anterior pituitary actively releases its hormones into the circulation while in the periphery, anabolic target organ hormones are inactivated. This response is thought to be beneficial and adaptive. ⋯ The concomitant endocrine changes in chronic critical illness may have predisposed to severe side effects of high doses of GH. In view of the significant benefits of strict glycemic control using exogenous insulin recently demonstrated in ICU patients [101], GH-induced insulin resistance and hyperglycemia may have played a role. It remains to be studied whether endocrine intervention with releasing factors such as TRH and GHRP in prolonged critical illness will accelerate recovery of patients who have entered the vicious circle of prolonged intensive care dependency.
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Critical care clinics · Jul 2002
ReviewNutrition support of the chronically critically ill patient.
Providing nutrition and metabolic support to the CCI patient is based on the rational application of scientifically derived data and clinical experience with this unique population. Much of the data presented has been extrapolated from the critically ill ICU patients and the chronically ill hospitalized or nursing home patient, as there are limited data solely based on an experience with the CCI [table: see text] patient population. The key principles are: (1) primacy of protein provision and avoidance of overfeeding energy, (2) use of combined modality (enteral, parenteral, and oral) nutrition to meet needs as required, (3) use of adjunctive agents to promote nitrogen retention when needed, and (4) recognition of and adjustment for altered nutrient requirements (Table 3).
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After weaning from PMV, patients are usually far from ready to resume normal activities. A prolonged recovery period after catastrophic illness is the rule, with multidisciplinary rehabilitation and discharge planning efforts. Following such efforts, reports of success of restorative care are institutional and population specific. ⋯ The authors are participating in a multicenter study that will yield some of these data; no doubt others will also address these questions. In the mean time, "No one in our society is willing to put Grandma out on an iceberg because she's no longer contributing. Someone needs to take care of these people" [137].
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Critical care clinics · Jul 2002
ReviewInfection in the chronically critically ill: unique risk profile in a newly defined population.
Although CCI is defined as prolonged ventilatory failure with tracheotomy stemming from preceding critical illness, the contention that multisystem debilities impact on most CCI patients' care and recovery is a central thesis of this volume. Perhaps reflecting the combined debilities inherent in CCI, infectious complications take their toll in morbidity, mortality, and persistent ventilatory insufficiency. ⋯ Strategies to improve outcome in CCI-related infection include standard measures of support especially nutrition, reducing environmental inoculum through pulmonary hygiene measures, skin care, and limiting barrier breaches, and appropriate antimicrobials directed at likely pathogens. Future stratification of patient risk on the basis of immune phenotype or genotype and potential immunomodulatory prophylaxis may be around the corner, as new prospects in the pharmaceutical armamentarium are presently undergoing testing.
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The provision of care to the CCI patient is complex, challenging, and unique. The advanced practice nursing model at Mount Sinai Hospital is one successful care delivery model that fills the needs of both CCI patients and the nurses who work with them. The following transferable aspects of the RCU add to the unit's successful outcomes: (1) an interdisciplinary approach assures that all aspects of care are included in the clinical plan; (2) clinical care pathways, algorithms, and standard protocols based on physician, NP, and clinical nurse collaboration are successful management strategies; (3) formal discharge planning meetings with participation of patients, families, NPs, and social workers provide a forum for discharge planning and an avenue to address ethical issues such as advance directives, resuscitation status, and patient self-determination decisions; (4) full participation by nurses in all aspects of the unit's activities is a cost-effective strategy for maximizing positive outcomes for patients and their families. ⋯ As we reflect on our experience, we hope to heighten the reader's awareness of CCI patients as thinking, feeling, and unique human beings. As Benner [31] suggested, we hope this paper will facilitate seeing the person beyond the disease. As limited financial resources increasingly affect health care, providing high-quality, cost-effective care to the CCI patient remains one of the greatest challenges for nurses and physicians in the United States.