Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Dec 2015
ReviewProtocol-Based Care versus Individualized Management of Patients in the Intensive Care Unit.
The delivery of evidence-based care in the high-acuity environment of the intensive care unit can be challenging. In an effort to help turn guidelines and standards of care into consistent and uniform practice, physicians and hospitals turn toward protocol-based medical care. A protocol can help guide a practitioner to make correct interventions, at the right time, and in the proper order when managing a given disease. ⋯ In addition to the care the protocol delivers, it must overcome other barriers to gain acceptance. These include concerns about protocol usage among medical trainees, physician concern regarding loss of autonomy, and the ceiling effect protocol-driven care places on expert practitioners, among other concerns. The aim of this article is to critically appraise what it means for a protocol to be considered successful with an aim toward improving protocol design and implementation in the future.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Dec 2015
ReviewAwake or Sedated: Trends in the Evaluation and Management of Agitation in the Intensive Care Unit.
Critically ill intensive care unit (ICU) patients often require sedation to tolerate life-saving interventions such as mechanical ventilation. Pain, anxiety, and delirium all contribute to patient distress and agitation which can interfere with ICU medical care if not addressed and treated appropriately. Sedation practices to treat pain, anxiety, and delirium that deviate from established practice guidelines affect mechanical ventilation duration, ICU and hospital length of stay, functional impairment, and mortality. ⋯ This review will focus on changes in sedation practice in the ICU over the past three decades. With the implementation of validated sedation assessment scales, a multidisciplinary treatment model, and development of daily awakening protocols, no or minimal sedation can be achieved in the majority of ICU patients. Frequent, careful consideration of the environmental stimuli that contribute to patient discomfort and agitation and judicious use of sedative medications individualized to each patient are important in achieving this goal.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Dec 2015
Review Meta AnalysisMetabolic Management during Critical Illness: Glycemic Control in the ICU.
Hyperglycemia is a commonly encountered metabolic derangement in the ICU. Important cellular pathways, such as those related to oxidant stress, immunity, and cellular homeostasis, can become deranged with prolonged and uncontrolled hyperglycemia. There is additionally a complex interplay between nutritional status, ambient glucose concentrations, and protein catabolism. ⋯ In this review, we will explore the impact of hyperglycemia upon critical cellular pathways and how nutrition provided in the ICU affects blood glucose. Additionally, important clinical trials to date will be summarized. A practical and comprehensive approach to glucose management in the ICU will be outlined, touching upon important issues such as glucose variability, target population, and hypoglycemia.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Dec 2015
ReviewBedside Ultrasound in the Intensive Care Unit: Where Is the Evidence?
Interest in bedside ultrasound in the intensive care unit and emergency department has exploded in recent years. This interest is driven in part by the utility of ultrasound for procedural guidance. In most cases, enthusiasm outstrips current evidence. ⋯ Other possibilities include ventilator titration and guidance of diuresis. While the literature is more complicated, there is some early evidence that lung ultrasound may improve the diagnosis of dyspnea, although these results have not been well validated. Centers should avoid premature loss of equipoise and participate in studies of explicit protocols that incorporate ultrasound.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Dec 2015
ReviewTo Trach or Not to Trach: Uncertainty in the Care of the Chronically Critically Ill.
The number of chronically critically ill patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation and receiving a tracheostomy is steadily increasing. Early tracheostomy in patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation has been proposed to decrease duration of mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit stay, reduce mortality, and improve patient comfort. However, these benefits have been difficult to demonstrate in clinical trials. ⋯ In chronically critically ill patients with poor prognosis, tracheostomy is unlikely to provide benefit and should only be pursued if it is consistent with the patient's values, goals, and preferences. In this setting, communication with patients and surrogates regarding tracheostomy and prognosis becomes paramount. For the foreseeable future, decisions surrounding tracheostomy will remain relevant and challenging.