Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Nov 2023
Reliability of Admission Procalcitonin Testing for Capturing Bacteremia Across the Sepsis Spectrum: Real-World Utilization and Performance Characteristics, 65 U.S. Hospitals, 2008-2017.
Serum procalcitonin is often ordered at admission for patients with suspected sepsis and bloodstream infections (BSIs), although its performance characteristics in this setting remain contested. This study aimed to evaluate use patterns and performance characteristics of procalcitonin-on-admission in patients with suspected BSI, with or without sepsis. ⋯ At 65 study hospitals, procalcitonin-on-admission demonstrated poor sensitivity in ruling out BSI, moderate-to-poor discrimination for both bacteremic sepsis and occult BSI and did not appear to meaningfully alter empiric antibiotic usage. Diagnostic stewardship of procalcitonin-on-admission and risk assessment of admission procalcitonin-guided clinical decisions is warranted.
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Critical care medicine · Nov 2023
Multicenter Study Observational StudyDeclining Use of Prone Positioning After High Initial Uptake in COVID-19 Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome.
Prone positioning for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has historically been underused, but was widely adopted for COVID-19-associated ARDS early in the pandemic. Whether this successful implementation has been sustained over the first 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown. In this study, we characterized proning use in patients with COVID-19 ARDS from March 2020 to December 2022. ⋯ The use of prone positioning for COVID-19 ARDS is declining. Interventions to increase and sustain appropriate use of this evidence-based therapy are warranted.
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Critical care medicine · Nov 2023
Observational StudyProbiotic-Associated Central Venous Catheter Bloodstream Infections Lead to Increased Mortality in the ICU.
To determine the occurrence rate and impact on patient outcomes of probiotic-associated central venous catheter bloodstream infections in the ICU. ⋯ Probiotic administration is associated with a substantial rate of probiotic-associated bloodstream infection in ICU patients with central venous catheters in place. Probiotic-associated bloodstream infections result in significantly increased mortality. Powder formulations cause bloodstream infections more frequently than nonpowder formulations. In ICU patients with central venous catheters, the risks of probiotic-associated central venous catheter bloodstream infection and death outweigh any potential benefits of probiotic administration.
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Critical care medicine · Nov 2023
Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Infectious Diseases Society of America Guidelines for Evaluating New Fever in Adult Patients in the ICU.
Fever is frequently an early indicator of infection and often requires rigorous diagnostic evaluation. ⋯ The guidelines panel was able to formulate several recommendations for the evaluation of new fever in a critically ill adult patient, acknowledging that most recommendations were based on weak evidence. This highlights the need for the rapid advancement of research in all aspects of this issue-including better noninvasive methods to measure core body temperature, the use of diagnostic imaging, advances in microbiology including molecular testing, and the use of biomarkers.
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Critical care medicine · Nov 2023
Vagueness in Goals-of-Care Conferences for Critically Ill Patients: Types of Hedge Language Used by Physicians.
Hedge language is a category of language that refers to words or phrases that make statements "fuzzier." We sought to understand how physicians use hedge language during goals-of-care conferences in the ICU. ⋯ Hedge language is ubiquitous in physician-surrogate communication during goals-of-care conferences in the ICU and can be used to introduce vagueness to statements in ways beyond expressing uncertainty. It is not known how hedge language impacts decision-making or clinician-surrogate interactions. This study prioritizes specific types of hedge language for future research based on their frequency and novelty.