background: visitation of patients admitted at intensive care units (icus) is a controversial issue in the field of health care. it is commonly believed that the presence of family members might bring about physiological changes, such as tachycardia and hypertension, in icu patients. aim: this study aimed to evaluate the effects of scheduled visitation on the physiological indices of conscious ...

background: in neonatal intensive care units (nicu) different sound intensities and frequencies are produced from different sources, which may exert undesirable physiological effects on the infants. the aim of this study was to determine the noise level and its sources in the nicu and neonatal ward of al-zahra hospital of rasht, iran. methods: in this descriptive cross-sectional study, the inte...

meningitis is an acute inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, which are known as the meninges. this infection may be caused by streptococcus pneumonia bacteria. in this study, we presented the case of a female newborn with meningitis secondary to streptococcus pneumonia. her birth weight and height were normal. after 24 hours of birth, the neonate was diagn...

background noise at intensive care units (icu) has an adverse effect on patients and icu staff. there are some evidences that sleep, recovery from critical illness and average background noise in hospitals as recommended by the us environmental protection agency (epa) and world health organization (who) should not exceed 30 a-weighted decibel (dba) and peaks during night time should be less tha...

device-associated nosocomial infection is a significant part of nosocomial infection and can cause the majority of its mortality, morbidity, extra lengths of hospital stay and cost. in a 13-year review, the online database was searched for full articles to find research on epidemiology of device-associated nosocomial infection in pediatric and neonatal wards. twenty two papers were included fiv...

Susanna Esposito, MD; Alessia Scala; Beatrice Ascolese; Laura Senatore; Elisabetta Prada; Cristina Daleno; Monia Gambino; Maria Vincenza Mastrolia; Nicola Principi; Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit University Milan, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy; Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit, University Milan, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Po...

The concepts of medical futility and rationing are often misunderstood and lead to significant consternation when resources are stretched and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) beds are unavailable. While the two concepts overlap, each has its own distinct application and moral justification. Most importantly, we should avoid using one to justify the other. Bioethics professionals should assi...

OBJECTIVES The original COMFORT scale, including both observational and physiologic items, has been validated for measuring distress in children admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit. However, physiologic variables are influenced by drugs given in the pediatric intensive care unit setting. The objectives of this study were to assess the usefulness of physiologic variables in judgment of s...

OBJECTIVE To describe the characteristics of children admitted to intensive care in 1982, 1995, and 2005-2006, and their long-term outcome. SETTING Pediatric intensive care unit in a university-affiliated children's hospital. DESIGN/METHODS Information for 2005-2006 admissions was obtained from pediatric intensive care unit database, and long-term outcome was ascertained through telephone i...