American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
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To assess the predictive value for the early detection of sepsis of the physiological monitoring parameters currently recommended by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign. ⋯ The results support the use of some of the guidelines of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign. However, the lowest mean temperature was significantly less for patients without sepsis than for patients with sepsis, a finding that calls into question the clinical usefulness of using hypothermia as an early predictor of sepsis. Alone the group of variables used is not sufficient for discriminating between critically ill patients with and without sepsis.
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Review Meta Analysis
Rotational bed therapy to prevent and treat respiratory complications: a review and meta-analysis.
Immobility is associated with complications involving many body systems. ⋯ Rotational therapy may be useful for preventing and treating respiratory complications in selected critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation.
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To review the literature on the limitations and consequences of packed red blood cell transfusions, with particular attention to critically ill patients. ⋯ According to the available data, transfusion of packed red blood cells should be reserved only for situations in which clear physiological indicators for transfusion are present.
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Ventilator-associated pneumonia accounts for 47% of infections in patients in intensive care units. Adherence to the best nursing practices recommended in the 2003 guidelines for the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should reduce the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia. ⋯ The guidelines for the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are not consistently or uniformly implemented. Practices of nurses employed in hospitals with oral care protocols are more often congruent with the guidelines than are practices of nurses employed in hospitals without such protocols. Significant reductions in rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia may be achieved by broader implementation of oral care protocols.