Journal of critical care
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Journal of critical care · Oct 2020
Observational StudyTriage of patients with fever: The Manchester triage system's predictive validity for sepsis or septic shock and seven-day mortality.
Up to 15% of patients arrive in the emergency department suffering from fever. Triage is their first contact and is responsible for the stratification of patients according to the severity of the condition for which they are presenting at the emergency department. The aim of this study is to assess the predictive validity of the Manchester Triage System in patients with fever for sepsis or septic shock and seven-day mortality. ⋯ The Manchester Triage System has demonstrated high sensitivity and negative predictive value in patients with fever diagnosed with sepsis or septic shock. For patients with sepsis or septic shock one-third of cases with an incorrectly assigned priority code were caused by incorrect application of the Manchester Triage System.
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Journal of critical care · Oct 2020
What can be learned from crude intensive care unit mortality? Methodological implications.
Demonstrate the practical range of information that can be obtained about ICU mortality/survival from limited administrative data. ⋯ Simple calculations using the few variables found in administrative database enhanced information provided by the crude mortality rate and demonstrated that temporal patterns of mortality change as stay lengthens. These results highlight the limitations of just using overall crude mortality rates.
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Journal of critical care · Oct 2020
Narrative critical care: A literary analysis of first-person critical illness pathographies.
Life-threatening illness can be devastating for patients as they experience shifting levels of consciousness, recurrent delirium, and repeated setbacks. Narrative Medicine and its sub-discipline Narrative Critical Care increase healthcare professionals' understanding of the patient perspective, and interpretation of their stories is a means to improving practice. ⋯ We uncovered commonalities and differences in storied accounts of critical illness and survival. New insights might enable healthcare professionals to personalize patient care. More consistency is needed during transitions and rehabilitation of intensive care survivors.