Resp Care
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Mortality increases when extubations fail. Although predictors of extubation failure have been evaluated, physicians' reasoning to extubate a patient has received minimal attention. We hypothesized that the accuracy and reliability of physicians' extubation decisions are low. ⋯ For a decision made on an almost daily basis in intensive care units, physicians' extubation decisions are inaccurate and only fairly reliable.
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Mortality is high among patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). Several prognostic markers have been described in such patients, but the literature contains no data comparing C-reactive protein (CRP) and cardiac troponin T (cTn-T), nor of a combination of CRP and cTn-T in the same patient group in the ICU. ⋯ Elevated CRP is an independent early prognostic marker of mortality risk in ICU patients. We suspect that a CRP-based prognosis strategy may be useful.