Journal of critical care
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Journal of critical care · Dec 2016
Observational StudyReduction in procalcitonin level and outcome in critically ill children with severe sepsis/septic shock-A pilot study.
To investigate if reduction in procalcitonin (PCT) provides useful information about 28-day mortality in children with severe sepsis or septic shock. ⋯ This small pilot study suggests that further studies are indicated to determine whether children with severe sepsis or septic shock are less likely to die if they have a reduction in PCT more than 50% in the first 4 days in intensive care.
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Journal of critical care · Dec 2016
ICU-RESPECT: An index to assess patient and family experiences of respect in the intensive care unit.
The purpose of the study is to develop a brief index of patient and family experiences of respect in the intensive care unit (ICU). ⋯ The "ICU-RESPECT" index demonstrates high reliability and concurrent validity in ICU patients and families. Future research should validate this index in other ICU settings, assess its predictive validity, and evaluate different methods for maximizing response rate. As hospitals address patient experience more broadly in response to national metrics, the index could identify particular behaviors or ICUs that would benefit from interventions to enhance respectful treatment.
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Journal of critical care · Dec 2016
Comparative StudyA change of colloid from hydroxyethyl starch to gelatin does not reduce rate of renal failure or mortality in surgical critical care patients: Results of a retrospective cohort study.
Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) may compromise renal function in critically ill patients. As an alternative, gelatin (GEL) was suggested. This study investigated whether GEL (4%) may have advantages over HES (6%, 130/0.4) with respect to acute renal failure (ARF), length of intensive care unit /hospital stay, and 30-day mortality and evaluated dose-dependent effects. ⋯ A change of colloid from HES to GEL did not reduce the rate of ARF or mortality in surgical critical care patients. Both colloids appear to have dose-dependent effects on renal function.
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Journal of critical care · Dec 2016
Predictive value of the National Early Warning Score-Lactate for mortality and the need for critical care among general emergency department patients.
What is the predictive value of the National Early Warning Score-Lactate (NEWS-L) score for mortality and the need for critical care in general emergency department (ED) patients? ⋯ The NEWS-L can provide excellent discriminant value for predicting 2-day mortality in general ED patients, and it has the best discriminant value regarding the need for critical care and composite outcomes. The NEWS-L may be helpful in the early identification of at-risk general ED patients.