Crit Care Resusc
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Fluid bolus therapy (FBT) is ubiquitous in intensive care units (ICUs) after cardiac surgery. However, its physiological effects remain unclear. ⋯ In this quasi-experimental comparative ICU study in cardiac surgery patients, FBT was associated with statistically significant but numerically small increases in CO. Nearly half of FBT failed to induce a positive CO or MAP response.
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The population of children requiring intensive care in Victoria has increased and changed markedly since the 1990s, the result of many epidemiological, demographic, and social changes, and this is more evident during and after the Covid pandemic. The model of ultra-centralised paediatric intensive care services in the 1990s is not sufficient for the current era, and services are under daily pressure. Solutions will take time and need to be wide-ranging, including increased critical care capacity in selected regional centres, decentralisation of some services for low-risk conditions, improvements and reforms in medical and nursing education, pre-service and post-graduate, including for other acute care disciplines and for general practitioners and a more structured state-wide paediatric system. The effects of changes in disease patterns, social trends and health practice should inform the design of an expanded model of critical and emergency care for children in Victoria that is more fit for purpose in the remainder of this decade and beyond.
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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ccrj.2023.06.001.].
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Victoria, Australia provides a centralised state ECMO service, supported by ambulance retrieval. Equity of access to this service has not been previously described. ⋯ Victorian ECMO incidence rates were low. We did not find evidence of inequity of access to ECMO irrespective of regional area or socioeconomic status.
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Opioid use disorder is extremely common. Many long-term opioid users will have their first exposure to opioids in hospitals. We aimed to compare long-term opioid use in patients who received fentanyl vs. morphine analgosedation and assess ICU related risk factors for long-term opioid use. ⋯ Approximately one in seven opioid-naïve patients who receive analgosedation for mechanical ventilation in ICU will be prescribed opioid medications at hospital discharge. There was no difference in discharge prescription or long-term use of opioids depending on whether fentanyl or morphine was used for analgosedation.