Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2016
ReviewA Review of the Perceptions of Healthcare Providers and Family Members Toward Family Involvement in Active Adult Patient Care in the ICU.
The objective of this article is to provide a summary of the perceptions of healthcare providers and family members toward their role in active patient care in the ICU and compare the views of healthcare providers with those of relatives of critically ill patients. ⋯ A positive attitude exists among both family members and providers toward the involvement of family members in active care tasks. Providers and family members share the attitude that a partnership is necessary and that encouragement for family members to participate is essential. The findings in this review support the need for more objective research regarding how families are caring for their loved ones and how family involvement in care is affecting patient and family outcomes.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2016
Observational StudyFocused Critical Care Echocardiography: Development and Evaluation of an Image Acquisition Assessment Tool.
Little attention has been placed on assessment tools to evaluate image acquisition quality for focused critical care echocardiography. We designed a novel assessment tool to objectively evaluate the image acquisition skills of critical care trainees learning focused critical care echocardiography and examined the tool for evidence of validity. ⋯ Trainees' efficiency in focused critical care echocardiography image acquisition improved quickly in the first 10 studies, yet, it could not match with the performance of experienced physicians after 20 focused critical care echocardiography studies. The focused critical care echocardiography assessment tool demonstrated evidence of validity and could discern changes in trainees' image acquisition performance with increasing experience.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2016
An Exploratory Study of Long-Term Outcome Measures in Critical Illness Survivors: Construct Validity of Physical Activity, Frailty, and Health-Related Quality of Life Measures.
Functional capacity is commonly impaired after critical illness. We sought to clarify the relationship between objective measures of physical activity, self-reported measures of health-related quality of life, and clinician reported global functioning capacity (frailty) in such patients, as well as the impact of prior chronic disease status on these functional outcomes. ⋯ Subjective and objective measures of physical activity are all informative in ICU survivors. They are all reduced 18 months post-discharge in ICU survivors, and worse in those with pre-admission chronic disease states. Investigating interventions to improve functional capacity in ICU survivors will require stratification based on the presence of premorbidity.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2016
Case ReportsEchography of the Portal Vein in a Patient With Shock.
To report the utility of abdominal ultrasonography to identify portal venous gas in patients with shock, as an indicator of acute mesenteric ischemia, and to illustrate the aspect of portal venous gas on ultrasonography. ⋯ Intensive care physicians should be aware of the ultrasound characteristics of portal venous gas. In patients with shock, in addition to cardiac and thoracic echography, investigation of portal venous gas using bedside ultrasonography may help the clinician to identify patients in whom acute mesenteric ischemia develops.