Journal of intensive care medicine
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J Intensive Care Med · Jan 2014
ReviewICU 2020: five interventions to revolutionize quality of care in the ICU.
Intensive care units (ICUs) are an essential and unique component of modern medicine. The number of critically ill individuals, complexity of illness, and cost of care continue to increase with time. ⋯ Modern ICU quality improvement initiatives include ensuring evidence-based best practice, participation in multicenter ICU collaborations, employing state-of-the-art information technology, providing point-of-care diagnostic testing, and efficient organization of ICU care delivery. This article demonstrates that each of these initiatives has the potential to revolutionize the quality of future ICU care in the United States.
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J Intensive Care Med · Jan 2014
ReviewNicotine replacement therapy in the intensive care unit: a systematic review.
The objective of this review was to systematically review and evaluate available literature describing the effect of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) on mortality and other outcomes in nicotine-dependent critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). ⋯ We conclude that NRT should not be routinely prescribed to patients admitted to intensive care settings. With only equivocal evidence of efficacy and signals suggesting increased toxicity, we believe that its use should be limited to selected patients where the potential benefit clearly outweighs the risk. There is a need for adequately powered randomized controlled trials to confirm the benefits and risks of NRT in the ICU overall but also in its unique subpopulations.
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J Intensive Care Med · Jan 2014
ReviewEthical challenges with deactivation of durable mechanical circulatory support at the end of life: left ventricular assist devices and total artificial hearts.
Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) and total artificial hearts (TAHs) are surgically implanted as permanent treatment of unrecoverable heart failure. Both LVADs and TAHs are durable mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices that can prolong patient survival but also alter end-of-life trajectory. The permissibility of discontinuing assisted circulation is controversial because device deactivation is a life-ending intervention. ⋯ Examples of such lethal conditions include irreversible coma, circulatory shock, overwhelming infections, multiple organ failure, refractory hypoxia, or catastrophic device failure. In all other situations, deactivating the LVAD/TAH is itself the lethal pathophysiology and the proximate cause of death. We postulate that the onset of new lethal pathophysiology is the determinant factor in judging the permissibility of the life-ending discontinuation of a durable MCS.
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J Intensive Care Med · Nov 2013
Case ReportsCardiac arrest following ketamine administration for rapid sequence intubation.
Given their relative hemodynamic stability, ketamine and etomidate are commonly chosen anesthetic agents for sedation during the endotracheal intubation of critically ill patients. As the use of etomidate has come into question particularly in patients with sepsis, due to its effect of adrenal suppression, there has been a shift in practice with more reliance on ketamine. ⋯ We present 2 critically ill patients who experienced cardiac arrest following the administration of ketamine for rapid sequence intubation (RSI). The literature regarding the use of etomidate and ketamine for RSI in critically ill patients is reviewed and options for sedation during endotracheal intubation in this population are discussed.