Journal of intensive care medicine
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J Intensive Care Med · Aug 2020
Implementation of a Nurse-Driven Protocol for Catheter Removal to Decrease Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection Rate in a Surgical Trauma ICU.
Early removal of urinary catheters is an effective strategy for catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) prevention. We hypothesized that a nurse-directed catheter removal protocol would result in decreased catheter utilization and CAUTI rates in a surgical trauma intensive care unit (STICU). ⋯ Implementation of a nurse-driven protocol for early urinary catheter removal as part of a multimodal CAUTI intervention strategy can result in measurable decreases in both catheter utilization and CAUTI rates.
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J Intensive Care Med · Jul 2020
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyNewly Proposed Sepsis-Induced Coagulopathy Precedes International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Overt-Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation and Predicts High Mortality.
Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) has been recognized as an urgent and critical condition in patients with sepsis. Therefore, unfamiliar and time-consuming tests or a complex scoring system are not suitable for diagnosis. Sepsis-induced coagulopathy (SIC), a newly proposed category delineated by a few global coagulation tests, has been established as an early warning sign for DIC. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the characteristics of SIC, especially in relation to the score of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) for overt DIC. ⋯ At baseline, 149 (98.7%) of 151 patients with overt DIC according to the ISTH definition were diagnosed as having SIC. Of the 49, 46 (93.9%) patients who developed overt DIC between days 2 and 4 had received a prior diagnosis of SIC. The sensitivity of baseline SIC for the prediction of death was significantly higher than that of overt DIC (86.8% vs 64.5%, P < .001). The sensitivity of SIC on days 2, 4, and 7 was significantly higher than those of overt DIC (96.1%, 92.3%, and 84.4% vs 67.1%, 57.7%, and 50.0%, P < .001, .001, and .001, respectively), although the specificity of SIC was lower at all time points.
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J Intensive Care Med · Jul 2020
Observational StudyIntra-Abdominal Hypertension is a Risk Factor for Increased VAP Incidence: A Prospective Cohort Study in the ICU of a Tertiary Hospital.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) might be increased in cases with intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH). However, despite animal experimentation and physiological studies on humans in favor of this hypothesis, there is no definitive clinical data that IAH is associated with VAP. We therefore aimed to study whether IAH is a risk factor for increased incidence of VAP in critical care patients. This 1-center prospective observational cohort study was conducted in the intensive care unit of the University Hospital of Larissa, Greece, during 2013 to 2015. Consecutive patients were recruited if they presented risk factors for IAH at admission and were evaluated systematically for IAH and VAP for a 28-day period. ⋯ Intra-abdominal hypertension is an independent risk factor for increased VAP incidence in critically ill patients who present risk factors for IAH at admission to the ICU.
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J Intensive Care Med · Jul 2020
A Pilot Study of Ultrasonography-Naïve Operators' Ability to Use Tele-Ultrasonography to Assess the Heart and Lung.
Remotely tele-mentored ultrasound (RTMUS) involves the real-time guidance of US-naïve providers as they perform point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) by remotely located, US-proficient providers via telemedicine. The concordance between RTMUS and POCUS in the evaluation of critically ill patients has not been reported. This study sought to evaluate the concordance between RTMUS and POCUS for the cardiopulmonary evaluation of patients in acute respiratory insufficiency and/or shock. ⋯ RTMUS may be a reasonable substitute for POCUS in the cardiopulmonary evaluation of patients with acute respiratory insufficiency and/or shock. These findings should be validated on a larger scale.
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J Intensive Care Med · Jul 2020
Multicenter StudyThe Association Between Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Scores and Mortality in Patients With Sepsis During the First Week: The JSEPTIC DIC Study.
Predicting prognosis is a complex process, particularly in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores for individual organs during the first week of admission and the in-hospital mortality in patients with sepsis. ⋯ The CNS SOFA scores were associated with mortality in patients with severe sepsis on days 1, 3, and 7 following hospitalization. The coagulation SOFA score was associated with mortality on day 7. In clinical situations, the CNS SOFA scores during the acute phase and the CNS SOFA and coagulation SOFA scores during the subsequent phases should be evaluated in order to determine patient prognosis.