Journal of critical care
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2015
Clinical TrialProkinetic drugs for gastric emptying in critically ill ventilated patients: Analysis through breath testing.
The prupose was to identify, through the BreathID automatic breath-testing device, the best prokinetic therapy to enhance gastric-emptying rate (GER) in ventilated intensive care unit patients. ⋯ Combined metoclopramide-continuous low-dose erythromycin was found to be the best protocol in the current study to increase GER in ventilated patients. It should be tested as a first-line prokinetic therapy in ventilated patients with poor gastric emptying in further randomized controlled studies. The breath-test device presented in this study can be a user-friendly and practical method to monitor GER, enabling individual tailoring of prokinetic therapy. Further studies to explore its utility are warranted.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2015
Comparative StudyAccuracy of Vigileo/Flotrac monitoring system in morbidly obese patients.
Our goal was to assess the accuracy of measuring cardiac output (CO) by the FloTrac/Vigileo (CO(V)) device in comparison with thermodilution technique through pulmonary artery catheterization (PAC(TD)) in morbidly obese patients. ⋯ Data obtained using CO(V) vs PAC(TD) measurements showed poor correlation. The results were not interchangeable.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2015
Observational StudyPsychological experience of patients 3 months after a stay in the intensive care unit: A descriptive and qualitative study.
The purpose was to describe psychological experiences of patients 3 months after a stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) using qualitative methods. ⋯ Our study highlights the need to investigate patients' memories of ICU and the coping strategies used by patients to improve their ICU experience. Our findings suggest that a systematic follow-up consultation after ICU discharge would be useful for monitoring of post-ICU psychological outcomes.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2015
Observational StudyPredictive models of prolonged mechanical ventilation yield moderate accuracy.
To develop a model to predict prolonged mechanical ventilation within 48 hours of its initiation. ⋯ Different predictive models of prolonged mechanical ventilation in general intensive care unit patients achieve a moderate level of overall accuracy, likely insufficient to assist in clinical decisions.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2015
Comparative StudySave the patient a trip. Outcome difference between conservatively treated patients with traumatic brain injury in a nonspecialized intensive care unit vs a specialized neurosurgical intensive care unit in the Sultanate of Oman.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) continues to be the main cause of death among trauma patients. Accurate diagnosis and timely surgical interventions are critical steps in reducing the mortality from this disease. For patients who have no surgically reversible head injury pathology, the decision to transfer to a dedicated neurosurgical unit is usually controversial. ⋯ There is no difference in outcome between patients with TBI treated conservatively in a specialized neurosurgical ICU and those treated in a general nonspecialized ICU in Oman in 2013. Therefore, unless neurosurgical intervention is warranted or expected, patients with TBI may be managed in a general ICU, saving the risk and expense of a transfer to a specialized neurosurgical ICU.