American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a common household item that has gained popularity as an alternative cancer treatment. Some have speculated that alkali therapy neutralizes the extracellular acidity of tumor cells that promotes metastases. ⋯ The case described here is the first reported case of severe metabolic alkalosis related to topical use of sodium bicarbonate as a treatment for cancer. This case highlights how a seemingly benign and readily available product can have potentially lethal consequences.
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The prognostic importance of subsyndromal delirium is unknown. ⋯ Subsyndromal delirium occurred in most critically ill patients, and its duration was an independent predictor of institutionalization. Routine monitoring of all delirium symptoms may enable detection of full and subsyndromal forms of delirium.
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As mortality rates for patients treated in intensive care units decrease, greater understanding of the impact of critical illness on patients' well-being is needed. ⋯ Survivors of acute respiratory failure reported substantial issues with their physical, mental, and social health. Holistic assessments of outcomes of survivors of critical illness should capture the complex beneficial and adverse impacts of critical illness on survivors' well-being and social health.
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Findings on outcomes of heart transplant patients who had diabetes mellitus before transplant are conflicting. ⋯ Heart transplant recipients with pretransplant diabetes fared just as well as patients without pretransplant diabetes in 7 of the 8 outcomes examined, except for the number of days hospitalized during the first 3 years after heart transplant. This study provides clinically important new information on the greater hospitalization time and the reasons for hospitalization during the first 3 years after heart transplant in patients with pretransplant diabetes.