Critical care medicine
-
Critical care medicine · Sep 2012
Comparative StudyFactors affecting team leadership skills and their relationship with quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
This study aims to explore the relationship between team-leadership skills and quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in an adult cardiac-arrest simulation. Factors affecting team-leadership skills were also assessed. ⋯ There is an association between team leadership skills and cardiac arrest simulation test score, preshock pause, and hands off ratio. Developing leadership skills should be considered an integral part of resuscitation training.
-
Critical care medicine · Sep 2012
Comparative StudyPrecision of noninvasive hemoglobin-level measurement by pulse co-oximetry in patients admitted to intensive care units for severe gastrointestinal bleeds.
Measurement of total hemoglobin, based on pulse co-oximetry, is a continuous and noninvasive method that has been principally evaluated in healthy volunteers subjected to hemodilution. We tested the hypothesis that its accuracy could adversely affect patients presenting with severe hemorrhage, which is traditionally associated with increased microvascular tone. ⋯ Determination of pulse co-oximetry-based hemoglobin in patients presenting with severe gastrointestinal bleeds can be inaccurate, which renders its use to guide transfusion decisions potentially hazardous. The unavailability of measurements, especially during vasopressor infusion, represents another serious limitation for hemorrhagic patients.