Background. Patients with hematologic malignancy (HM) often require intensive care unit (ICU) admission due to organ failure through disease progression or treatment-related complications. Objective. To determine mortality and prognostic variables in adult patients with HM who were admitted to ICU. Methods. Structured chart review of all adult patients (age ≥ 18 years) with HM admitted to ICU o...

INTRODUCTION Little information exists on the burden of intensive care unit (ICU) to the posttransplant rehospitalizations of kidney allograft recipients. We do not clearly know the extent of the need for ICU during rehospitalizations and causes of readmissions. In this study, we aimed to assess ICU admissions of kidney transplant recipients, to determine the risk factors of ICU admissions in r...

UNLABELLED Objective. To evaluate whether diabetes mellitus (DM) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are risk factors for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and bloodstream infections (BSI) in critically ill patients. Methods. Prospective observational study; patients were recruited from the intensive care unit (ICU) of a general district hospital between 2010 and 2012. INCLUSION CRITERIA ICU hospi...

OBJECTIVES To describe the case mix, activity, and outcome for admissions to intensive care units (ICUs) from emergency departments (EDs). DESIGN An observational study using data from a high quality clinical database, the Case Mix Programme Database, of intensive care admissions, coordinated at the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC). SETTING 91 adult ICUs in England, ...

OBJECTIVES To develop an influenza pandemic ICU triage (iPIT) protocol that excludes patients with the highest and lowest predicted mortality rates, and to determine the increase in ICU bed availability that would result. DESIGN AND SETTING Post-hoc analysis of a study evaluating two triage protocols, designed to determine which patients should be excluded from access to ICU resources during ...

INTRODUCTION Prognostic impact of delayed intensive care unit(ICU) admission in critically ill cancer patients remains debatable. We determined predictive factors for later ICU admission and mortality in cancer patients initially not admitted after their first ICU request. METHODS All cancer patients referred for an emergency ICU admission between 1 January 2012 and 31 August 2013 were includ...

Objectives. This study was designed to assess the clinical applicability of a Point-of-Care (POC) ultrasound curriculum into an intensive care unit (ICU) fellowship program and its impact on patient care. Methods. A POC ultrasound curriculum for the surgical ICU (SICU) fellowship was designed and implemented in an urban, academic tertiary care center. It included 30 hours of didactics and hands...

OBJECTIVE To determine the epidemiology of colonization with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) among intensive care unit (ICU) patients. DESIGN Ten-month prospective cohort study. SETTING A 19-bed medical ICU of a 1,440-bed teaching hospital. METHODS Patients admitted to the ICU had rectal swab cultures for VRE on admission and weekly thereafter. VRE-positive patients were cared for...

Intensive care units (ICUs) are highly complex organizations where lives are hanging by a thread. Approximately 400,000 to 500,000 people die each year in American ICUs. The highly complex environment and large responsibilities put a burden on ICU staff including physicians and nurses. Research has shown that ICU physicians and nurses report high levels of workload and burnout that are related ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the incidence of withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in various groups of patients in a mixed intensive care unit (ICU). DESIGN Observational retrospective. SETTING University hospital mixed medical, neurological, neurosurgical and surgical ICU. PATIENTS All patients admitted to the ICU between 1 November 2006, and 31 October 2007. RESULTS 1,353 Patients were ...