Articles: intensive-care-units.
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Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a widespread and often fatal clinical syndrome marked by the acute onset of pulmonary edema and inflammatory-mediated disruptions in alveolar-capillary permeability resulting in impaired gas exchange and tissue oxygenation with subsequent acute respiratory failure that accounts for 10.4% of all intensive care unit admissions worldwide and boasts a mortality rate of 38.5%. The current treatment for ARDS remains largely supportive. This is largely because of the many challenges of achieving a stable and sustainable animal model that recreates the pathophysiology of ARDS experimentally in a controlled setting to allow research to elucidate potential treatments of ARDS moving forward. ⋯ In conclusion, we demonstrated a viable animal model of human ARDS that is maintained for a prolonged period, suitable for continuous monitoring of the progression, and evaluation of potential future treatments and procedures to reduce patient morbidity and mortality. To carry out this two-hit model, lung injury was induced through a combination of bronchoalveolar lavage and oleic acid administration and the disease process of ARDS is subsequently tracked through clinically relevant parameters such as respiratory mechanics, cytokine response, aretrial blood gas (ABG) changes, and observation of postmortem histopathologic changes. This promising new model has the capacity to successfully replicate human ARDS which is a well-known and notoriously multifactorial pathogenic process to reproduce experimentally for an extended period of time. The "two-hit model" is a viable and appropriate model for the research of novel treatments for ARDS.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of ultraviolet C light and isopropyl alcohol for the disinfection of cellular phones in a paediatric intensive care unit setting.
A considerable proportion of cellular phones (cell phones) used by healthcare workers (HCWs) have been shown to be contaminated with pathogenic micro-organisms, making these devices reservoirs to infect susceptible patients. Although many units have well-defined infection control protocols, methods for the decontamination of cell phones are scarce. ⋯ Although both 70% isopropyl alcohol and UVC light disinfection effectively reduced CFUs following decontamination, 70% isopropyl alcohol was determined to be much more effective.
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Comparative Study
Hospital costs of COVID-19, post-COVID-19 condition and other viral pneumonias: a cost comparison analysis.
To compare hospital admission costs for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases to hospital admission costs for other viral pneumonia cases in Australia, and to describe hospital admission costs for post-COVID-19 condition. ⋯ Given its recent emergence, cases of acute COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 condition have had a significant additional financial impact on Australian hospitals. Further studies are required to understand long term costs and identify trends over time in the context of increased vaccination rates and subsequent variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Dexamethasone for Cardiac Surgery: A Practice Preference-Randomized Consent Comparative Effectiveness Trial.
High-dose corticosteroids have been used to attenuate the inflammatory response to cardiac surgery and cardiopulmonary bypass, but patient outcome benefits remain unclear. The primary aim was to determine whether using dexamethasone was superior to not using dexamethasone to increase the number of home days in the first 30 days after cardiac surgery. The secondary aim was to evaluate efficiency, value, and impact of the novel trial design. ⋯ Among patients undergoing cardiac surgery, high-dose dexamethasone decreased intensive care unit stay but did not increase the number of home days after surgery.