Patients’ wishes, pregnancy and vascular access: When one size does not fit all

Vascular Access in the Elderly: Does One Size Fit All?

of year 1. Younger (70–79 years) patients were more likely to convert to a non-CVC access as compared to those ≥ 80 years old. After adjustment of several factors, this difference between the 2 age groups persisted with greatest significance in the European subpopulation. Furthermore, patients who were maintained on CVC as their primary vascular access had a higher risk of death compared to tho...

Professionalism: one size does not fit all.

When a child is born with or acquires special needs, the parents may find some parental tasks more difficult. They may not know how to make their tasks easier, or that some parents find it exceptionally rewarding and meaningful to raise their children with special needs. This piece explores how clinicians might share this potentially life-altering information. It also explores when and why clin...

One-size MAP does not fit all

One-size mean arterial pressure does not fit all The Surviving Sepsis Campaign [1] advocates maintaining a mean arterial pressure (MAP) of at least 65 mm Hg in sepsis patients undergoing resuscitation. Leone and colleagues [2], in an article published in this journal, suggest considering higher MAP targets in the resuscitation of patients with a history of arterial hypertension so they do not p...

Does one size fit all?

Antibiotics and extracorporeal circulation – one size does not fit all

Dosing of antibiotics in critically ill patients is a significant challenge. The increasing number of patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation further complicates the issue due to inflammatory activation and to drug sequestration in the circuit. Since patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation commonly face severe infections, appropriate antibiotic selection and corre...