Articles: intensive-care-units.
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Tele-intensive care unit (ICU), or Tele Critical Care (TCC), has been in active use for 25 years and has expanded beyond the original model to support critically ill patients beyond the confines of the ICU. Here, the author reviews the role of TCC in supporting rapid response events, critical care in emergency departments, and disaster and pandemic responses. The ability to rapidly expand critical care services has important capacity and care quality implications. Moreover, as TCC infrastructure becomes less expensive, the opportunities to leverage this care modality also have potentially important financial benefits.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jul 2024
Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate a Permissive Blood Pressure Target Versus Usual Care in Critically Ill Children with Hypotension (PRESSURE).
Management of hypotension is a fundamental part of pediatric critical care, with cardiovascular support in the form of fluids or vasoactive drugs offered to every hypotensive child. However, optimal blood pressure (BP) targets are unknown. The PRotocolised Evaluation of PermiSSive BP Targets Versus Usual CaRE (PRESSURE) trial aims to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a permissive mean arterial pressure (MAP) target of greater than a fifth centile for age compared with usual care. ⋯ Trial findings will be disseminated in U.K. national and international conferences and in peer-reviewed journals.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jul 2024
Skeletal Muscle Mass Assessment in Pediatric Patients: Development of a Normative Equation and Assessment of Factors Associated With a Low Skeletal Muscle Mass in PICU Patients.
To develop an equation for defining a low skeletal muscle mass (SMM) in children and to investigate risk factors and outcomes associated with low SMM in critically ill pediatric patients. ⋯ In this retrospective PICU cohort from a single center in Japan, we found that low SMM at PICU admission was present in almost half the cases. Low SMM, as defined by being less than 80% of the normal, was associated with greater odds of low dietary intake and underlying chronic disease. Furthermore, low SMM was associated with longer hospital stays.
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Observational Study
Individualized Numeric Rating Scale to Assess Pain in Critically Ill Children With Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.
Pain is a significant burden for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities but is difficult for clinicians to identify. No pain assessment tools for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities have been validated for use in pediatric intensive care units. The Individualized Numeric Rating Scale (INRS) is an adapted 0-to-10 rating that includes parents' input on their child's pain indicators. ⋯ The INRS has adequate measurement properties for assessing pain in critically ill children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. It furthers goals of patient- and family-centered care but may have implementation barriers.
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Mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are being increasingly recognised as common adverse outcomes for critical illness survivors. These conditions can have lasting consequences on their wellbeing, ability to return to their pre-illness level of functioning and health-related quality of life. There is a paucity of South African data in terms of the psychological aspects of the post-intensive care unit (ICU) syndrome. ⋯ The burden of mental health disease in ICU survivors is substantial, affecting their HRQOL. Six out of 10 patients experienced symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD, and more than half of those affected experienced co-occurrence of the conditions. A third of those affected developed these symptoms only beyond 6 weeks after hospital discharge. A potentially modifiable association with psychological symptoms was frightening memories of the ICU stay.