Crit Care Resusc
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Vitamin C, Hydrocortisone and Thiamine in Patients with Septic Shock (VITAMINS) trial: study protocol and statistical analysis plan.
Septic shock is associated with poor outcomes. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a cellular antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory properties. Whether the combination therapy of vitamin C, thiamine and hydrocortisone reduces vasopressor dependency in septic shock is unclear. ⋯ The VITAMINS trial will determine whether combination therapy of vitamin C, thiamine and hydrocortisone when compared with hydrocortisone increases vasopressor-free hours in critically ill patients with septic shock. The conduct of this study will provide important information on the feasibility of studying this intervention in a phase 3 trial.
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Observational Study
Perceived Discomfort in Patients admitted to Intensive Care (DETECT DISCOMFORT 1): a prospective observational study.
Discomfort experienced by patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) is an important indicator of the quality of care provided, but few studies have evaluated the incidence and magnitude of discomfort in critically ill patients. The IPREA (Inconforts des Patients de REAnimation) discomfort questionnaire is a tool developed by French intensivists and validated in the French language with good internal consistency (Cronbach's α, 0.78). ⋯ Patients admitted to our ICU reported low overall discomfort. There was an inverse relationship between age and perceived discomfort. The translated questionnaire for measuring discomfort performed well in our setting and could be applied to the Australian population.
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To characterise intubation practices in Australian and New Zealand intensive care units (ICUs) and investigate clinician support for establishing airway management guidelines in Australian and New Zealand ICUs. ⋯ Variation of practices in intubation was noted in the participants. Approximately 61% of respondents supported the development of Australian and New Zealand ICU airway management guidelines, and 80% supported mandatory airway management training.
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To describe the prevalence of low-normal body temperatures in emergency department (ED) patients presenting with severe infection, and to determine whether active warming is used in this setting. ⋯ Among patients with community-acquired infection requiring ICU admission, about a quarter have a low temperature and active warming was essentially not applied. These findings suggest that active warming of such patients would likely achieve separation from usual care.
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In Australia and New Zealand, the numbers of intensive care medicine trainees have increased significantly over the past 15 years. This has implications for supervision, clinical and procedural experience, and availability of rotations. The College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand (CICM) decided to estimate the current training resources using several domains. ⋯ This report has provided an assessment of the available resources within Australia and New Zealand for training doctors in intensive care medicine, and has identified significant limitations and concerns among trainees and ICU directors regarding the capacity to train. The findings call for a review of the training program, including a determination of optimal numbers of training positions.