Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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The ability to compensate for life-threatening failure of respiratory function is perhaps the signature technology of intensive care medicine. Unchanging needs for providing effective life-support with minimized risk and optimized comfort have been, are now, and will be the principal objectives of providing mechanical ventilation. Important lessons acquired over nearly half-a-century of ICU care have brought us closer to meeting them, as technological advances in instrumentation now effectively put this hard-won knowledge into action. Rising demand in the face of economic constraints is likely to drive future innovations focused on reducing the need for user input, automating multi-element protocols, and carefully monitoring the patient for progress and complications.
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Observational Study
Post-extubation dysphagia is associated with longer hospitalization in survivors of critical illness with neurologic impairment.
Critically ill patients can develop acute respiratory failure requiring endotracheal intubation. Swallowing dysfunction after liberation from mechanical ventilation, also known as post-extubation dysphagia, is common and deleterious among patients without neurologic disease. However, the risk factors associated with the development of post-extubation dysphagia and its effect on hospital lengthofstay in critically ill patients with neurologic disorders remains relatively unexplored. ⋯ In a cohort of critically ill patients with neurologic impairment, longer duration of mechanical ventilation is independently associated with post-extubation dysphagia, and the development of post-extubation dysphagia is independently associated with a longer hospital length of stay after the initial BSE.
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We assessed rates and predictive factors of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) failure in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for non-hypercapnic acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF). ⋯ With intubation rates below 35% in non-ARDS and mild ARDS, NIV stands as the first-line approach; NIV may be attempted in ARDS patients with a PaO2/FiO2 > 150. By contrast, 84% of severe ARDS required intubation and NIV did not appear beneficial in this subset of patients. However, the time to intubation had no influence on mortality.
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During the past 50 years, caring for the critically ill has become increasingly complex and the need for an intensivist has become more evident. Management by intensivists has become a quality indicator for many ICUs. Numerous small studies have demonstrated the beneficial effect of intensivists on outcomes in the critically ill, and some clinicians have advanced the argument that a night-time intensivist is essential for the care of critically ill patients. ⋯ In this methodologically rigorous trial, there was no difference in outcomes between the intensivist and control group, which consisted of in-house resident coverage at night with availability by telephone of fellows and intensivists. These two robust studies clearly suggest that night-time intensivists do not improve mortality in ICUs managed by intensivists during the day. Though possibly beneficial in low-intensity environments, the widespread drive to add night-time intensivist coverage may have been premature.
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Admission blood glucose (BG) level is a predictor of mortality in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, limited data are available relating admission BG to mortality in patients with STEMI complicated by cardiogenic shock, and it is not known whether diabetic status has an independent effect on this relationship. ⋯ In a cohort of patients with STEMI complicated by cardiogenic shock, admission BG was an independent predictor of increased risk of mortality only among patients without DM.