Respiratory care
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Home oxygen therapy is commonly prescribed for patients who remain hypoxemic at hospital discharge, although evidence supporting this practice is lacking. This study aimed to evaluate oxygen prescription and follow-up for patients who were prescribed post-discharge short-term oxygen therapy (STOT) and to assess their long-term outcome. ⋯ A significant proportion of subjects who were prescribed post-discharge STOT did not fulfill the recommended prescribing criteria. The long-term prognosis for subjects who were prescribed post-discharge STOT was poor.
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In a previous study of subjects suspected of having ventilator-associated pneumonia, a rapid susceptibility testing approach by using ETEST (BioMérieux) strips directly applied to bronchoalveolar lavage samples provided valuable information at hour 24. The primary objective of this study was to assess a new direct specimen testing by using an even more-rapid E-test approach (at hour 10), which could promote an early de-escalation of the antimicrobial therapy. ⋯ This rapid susceptibility testing approach provided early (10 h) and valuable information that could lead to an early adjustment of empirical antimicrobial treatment in a ventilator-associated pneumonia setting. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT01266863.).