Journal of critical care
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Journal of critical care · Oct 2013
Measuring safety culture in Palestinian neonatal intensive care units using the Safety Attitudes Questionnaire.
This study aimed to measure safety culture, examine variations among neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and assess the associations with caregiver characteristics. ⋯ We found large variations in safety culture within and between a comprehensive sample of Palestinian NICUs. The findings suggest the need for a customized approach that builds on existing strengths and targets areas of opportunities for improvement to optimize health care delivery to the most vulnerable of patients, sick newborns in the NICU setting.
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Journal of critical care · Oct 2013
New biomarker panel of plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and endotoxin activity assay for detecting sepsis in acute kidney injury.
Septic acute kidney injury (AKI) shows an unacceptably high mortality rate. Detection of sepsis is important for the clinical management of AKI patients. This study was undertaken to evaluate 2 biomarkers of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and endotoxin activity (EA) assay and their combination for detecting sepsis in AKI. ⋯ Combinations of plasma NGAL and EA, which are operating via different pathological pathways, significantly improved their detection performance in complicated conditions of septic AKI.
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Journal of critical care · Oct 2013
Previous antibiotic exposure and evolution of antibiotic resistance in mechanically ventilated patients with nosocomial infections.
This study aimed to evaluate the impact of previous antibiotic exposure and the influence of time interval since exposure on the evolution of antibiotic-resistant infections. ⋯ Although antibiotic exposure increased resistance rate in nosocomial infections, this association decreased as time interval increased. Antibiotic stewardship should consider the significance of time interval while investigating the evolution of subsequent antibiotic-resistant infections.
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Journal of critical care · Oct 2013
Predictive value of elevated cystatin C in patients undergoing primary angioplasty for ST-elevation myocardial infarction.
The prognostic value of cystatin C (CysC) has been documented in patients with acute coronary syndrome without ST-segment elevation. However, its value in acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of CysC in patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). ⋯ These results suggest that a high admission CysC level was associated with increased in-hospital and one-month cardiovascular mortality in patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI.
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Journal of critical care · Oct 2013
Continuous multiorgan variability analysis to track severity of organ failure in critically ill patients.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of using continuous heart rate variability (HRV) and respiratory rate variability (RRV) monitoring for (a) tracking daily organ dysfunction in critically ill patients and (b) identifying patterns of variability changes during onset of shock and resolution of respiratory failure. ⋯ There is an association between reduced HRV and RRV and increasing organ dysfunction in critically ill patients. The significance of observing trends of decreasing HRV (with onset of shock) and increasing RRV (with resolution of respiratory failure) merits further investigation.