Articles: intensive-care-units.
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Pediatric radiology · Mar 1999
Comparative StudyRadiation exposure during chest X-ray examinations in a premature intensive care unit: phantom studies.
There are few reports on the radiation dose received by infants, their family and radiographers exposed to scatter radiation in a premature baby intensive care unit. ⋯ Recommendations to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure are given.
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We assessed the hourly occupancy of our intensive care and high dependency units over an 8-week period commencing on the day our high dependency unit opened. Using criteria established by the working group on 'Guidelines on Admission to and Discharge from Intensive Care and High Dependency Units' published by the National Health Service Executive, we defined each patient daily as intensive care or high dependency status. ⋯ Use of intensive care beds became more appropriate, their occupancy increasing significantly from 63.7% to 73.4%. A significant decrease in readmissions occurred, supporting the hypothesis that having high dependency beds reduces the number of patients discharged prematurely to the wards.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Feb 1999
[On the topic of do not resuscitate (DNR) orders on intensive care units: an evaluation of the present status on intensive care units of the Innsbruck University clinics].
Intensive care physicians are frequently called upon to decide whether intensive care treatment is justified. Critically ill patients with a poor prognosis receive "Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Orders", which entitles the physician in charge to withhold cardiopulmonary resuscitation in case of cardiac arrest. Guidelines concerning the implementation of DNR orders do not exist for Austrian intensive care units. The aim of this study was to evaluate the different practices of issuing a DNR order in the departments of intensive care medicine at the University Hospital of Innsbruck. ⋯ We believe that the unsatisfactory situation in regard of DNR orders is not due to inactivity on the part of physicians, but is more likely a result of the inconclusive and, in part, contradictory legal situation. The physician is compelled to take a major decision within a poorly defined legal situation.
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Comparative Study
Analysis of the effect of conversion from open to closed surgical intensive care unit.
To compare the effect on clinical outcome of changing a surgical intensive care unit from an open to a closed unit. ⋯ Conversion of a tertiary care surgical intensive care unit from an open to closed environment reduced dopamine usage and overall complication and mortality rates. These results support the concept that, when possible, patients in surgical intensive care units should be managed by board-certified intensivists in a closed environment.