Should ICU clinicians follow patients after ICU discharge? Yes

The Impact of an ICU Liason Nurse on Discharge Delay in Patients after Prolonged ICU Stay

The impact of an ICU liaison nurse on discharge delay in patients after prolonged ICU stay.

The mismatch between intensive care unit (ICU) bed availability and demand may be improved with timely patient discharges, however little is known about the nature and contributing factors of discharge delays. This study investigated the impact of a specific intervention--the ICU liaison nurse role--in reducing ICU discharge delay using a prospective block intervention study. One hundred and ei...

Assessment of sepsis-induced immunosuppression at ICU discharge and 6 months after ICU discharge

BACKGROUND Increase in mortality and in recurrent infections in the year following ICU discharge continues in survivors of septic shock, even after total clinical recovery from the initial septic event and its complications. This supports the hypothesis that sepsis could induce persistent long-term immune dysfunctions. To date, there is almost no data on ICU discharge and long-term evolution of...

Should patients with posterior nasal packing require ICU admission?

BACKGROUND Ten percent of all episodes of epistaxis occur in the posterior nose, making posterior epistaxis a commonly encountered emergency for both emergency department physicians and otolaryngologists. Severe idiopathic nontraumatic posterior nasal epistaxis is an otolaryngologic emergency that occurs primarily in middle aged and elderly individuals who often have underlying chronic cardiac ...

Optimizing ICU Discharge Decisions with Patient Readmissions

This work examines the impact of discharge decisions under uncertainty in a capacity-constrained high risk setting: the intensive care unit (ICU). New arrivals to an ICU are typically very high priority patients and, should the ICU be full upon their arrival, discharging a patient currently residing in the ICU may be required to accommodate a newly admitted patient. Patients so discharged risk ...