Articles: critical-illness.
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Too high or too low patient volumes and work amounts may overwhelm health care professionals and obstruct processes or lead to inadequate personnel routine and process flow. We sought to evaluate, whether an association between current caseload, current workload, and outcomes exists in intensive care units (ICU). ⋯ In a system with comparably high intensive care resources and mandatory staffing levels, patients' survival chances are generally not affected by high intensive care unit caseload and workload. However, extraordinary circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may lead to higher risk of death, if planned capacities are exceeded. High workload in ICUs in smaller hospitals with lower staffing levels may be associated with increased risk of death.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Sep 2024
Intensive care unit cardiac arrest among very elderly critically ill patients - is cardiopulmonary resuscitation justified?
The proportion of very elderly patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) is expected to rise. Furthermore, patients are likely more prone to suffer a cardiac arrest (CA) event within the ICU. The occurrence of intensive care unit cardiac arrest (ICU-CA) is associated with high mortality. To date, the incidence of ICU-CA and its clinical impact on outcome in the very old (≥ 90 years) patients treated is unknown. ⋯ The occurrence of ICU-CA in very elderly patients is rare but associated with high mortality. Providing CPR in this cohort did not lead to long-term survival at our centre. Very elderly patients admitted to the ICU likely benefit from supportive care only and should probably not be resuscitated due to poor chance of survival and ethical considerations. Providing personalized assurances that care will remain appropriate and in accordance with the patient's and family's wishes can optimise compassionate care while avoiding futile life-sustaining interventions.
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The role of the geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) as a prognostic factor in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) remains uncertain. ⋯ GNRI serves as a significant nutrition assessment tool that is pivotal to predicting the prognosis of critically ill patients with AKI.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Glucocorticoid treatment increases cholesterol availability during critical illness: effect on adrenal and muscle function.
Hypocholesterolemia hallmarks critical illness though the underlying pathophysiology is incompletely understood. As low circulating cholesterol levels could partly be due to an increased conversion to cortisol/corticosterone, we hypothesized that glucocorticoid treatment, via reduced de novo adrenal cortisol/corticosterone synthesis, might improve cholesterol availability and as such affect adrenal gland and skeletal muscle function. ⋯ Glucocorticoid treatment partially attenuated critical illness-induced hypocholesterolemia, but at a cost of impaired adrenal function, suppressed muscle regeneration and exacerbated loss of body mass.