Articles: critical-illness.
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Disease-a-month : DM · May 1995
Review Case ReportsRecognition, assessment, and treatment of anxiety in the critical care patient.
A multidisciplinary group of experts involved in the treatment of critically ill patients participated in a workshop conference designed to develop practice recommendations for the recognition, assessment, and treatment of anxiety in the critical care environment. Anxiety was identified as a ubiquitous problem in critical care that may interfere with healing and recovery. The faculty agreed that clinicians should be familiar with the signs and symptoms of anxiety and should be able to determine when interventions are necessary. ⋯ Protocols for determining the best agents to be used in a given setting and their most appropriate method of administration should be established. Pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatments are not mutually exclusive but should be complementary. Finally, procedures for obtaining psychiatric consultation, when necessary, should be in place.
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Critical care medicine · May 1995
Comparative StudyEvaluation of a new continuous thermodilution cardiac output monitor in critically ill patients: a prospective criterion standard study.
To evaluate the accuracy of a new continuous cardiac output monitor (one based on the thermodilution principle) in critically ill patients. ⋯ Continuous cardiac output measurement using the thermodilution technique is reasonably accurate and is reliable and applicable in routine clinical practice, and therefore may add to patient safety. However, the response time is too slow for the immediate detection of acute changes in cardiac output. Some clinical conditions such as the rapid infusion of cold solutions can interfere with the continuous cardiac output measurement. Conventional bolus thermodilution and indocyanine green dye dilution methods showed good agreement and can be used interchangeably.
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Minerva anestesiologica · Apr 1995
[Assessment of intensive therapy: 4-year experience using the Apache II severity score].
To determine the outcome of critically ill patients and to study the characteristics of the population admitted to the intensive care unit. ⋯ These findings suggest that Apache II score is able to investigate critical ill patients, to stratify patients into disease groups and to quantify correctly the overall risk of death but cannot be used in decision making or to govern admissions in intensive care unit.
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This study was done to examine the outcome of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) and to identify factors preceding cardiopulmonary arrest that could predict survival. ⋯ Patients in the SICU who survived CPR had a stable or improving clinical course as determined by APS and GCS score, and had not had acute organ failure. Patients who were critically ill with a declining clinical course did not survive after CPR.
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Critical care medicine · Apr 1995
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialEffects of human growth hormone in critically ill nonseptic patients: results from a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
To study the effects of growth hormone administration on insulin-like growth factor I concentration, nitrogen balance, and fuel utilization, and to study its safety in critically ill nonseptic patients. ⋯ Growth hormone administration in a heterogeneous group of critically ill nonseptic patients resulted in normalization of insulin-like growth factor I levels, even after cessation of growth hormone treatment. Nitrogen balance improved, but this change was transient. Hence, growth hormone affects nitrogen balance, probably partly independent of insulin-like growth factor I.