Critical Care Alert
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Nurses at Rural Facilities Explain Barriers to End-of-Life Care
Family members often disagree with one another and misunderstand the meaning of “lifesaving measures.”
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Appropriate Oxygenation Targets in the Treatment of Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure
The care of critically ill patients in the ICU remains challenging. Recent studies support current protocols for the delivery of oxygen to patients who require supplemental oxygen due to respiratory failure of varying etiologies. Broad oxygenation targets of SpO2 between 88% to 97% continue to be supported by recent trials.
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Family Members of Critically Ill Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Pneumonia Have a High Burden of Symptoms of PTSD
This multicenter cohort study revealed a high incidence of PTSD symptoms among family members of COVID-19 patients at three months after the ICU admission.
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Limitation of Tidal Volume Is Cardioprotective Among Mechanically Ventilated Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery
In this experimental study, rising tidal volume increased right ventricular afterload.
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A Collaborative Three-Step Physician and Nurse Support Strategy for Families of Patients Dying in the ICU
When physicians and nurses offer collaborative and repeated support to families of patients dying in the intensive care unit, it may decrease prolonged grief, depression, and anxiety symptoms.
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Frailty Is Associated with Longer Duration of Mechanical Ventilation and Higher Mortality
In this retrospective, population-based cohort study, patients with frailty spent more time on mechanical ventilation, had longer intensive care unit and hospital stays, and had higher mortality than patients without frailty.
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Ethics of Lung Transplantation in COVID-19
This article will explore the history and epidemiology of lung transplantation and discuss its application and ethics in the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Mortality and Days Alive Outside Institutions in Older Patients After Tracheostomy with or Without Gastrostomy Tube
Medicare beneficiaries who underwent tracheostomy and gastrostomy tube placement often remained institutionalized beyond three months, with three-, six-, and 12-month mortality greater than 40%, 50%, and 60%, respectively.
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Occult Hypoxemia Is More Common in Black Patients than in White Patients About to Undergo ECMO for Respiratory Failure
In this retrospective analysis of de-identified Extracorporeal Life Support Organization registry data, the prevalence of occult hypoxemia was higher in Black patients than in white patients. Hispanic and Asian patients had a similar prevalence of occult hypoxemia compared to white patients.
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Surviving Sepsis: The New Guidelines
Subsequent revisions of Surviving Sepsis guidelines highlighted the need for early, appropriate antibiotics along with a new focus on initial resuscitation, stressing the importance of dynamic measurements instead of static variables to predict fluid responsiveness. The most recent 2021 revisions continue to stress the importance of these ideals, but they also place an increased emphasis on the hour-1 bundle and improving the care of sepsis patients after they are discharged from the intensive care unit.