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New Ethical Guidance on End-of-Life Nutrition Therapy
The guidance is intended to help clinicians understand what medically assisted nutrition and hydration can and cannot accomplish for different groups of patients.
Florida Hospital Tests Safety Bundle to Improve Alarm Management
With better communication and training, staff on a surgical ICU improved their responses to emergency alarms and alleviated alert fatigue.
Antibacterial Therapy in the Critically Ill
Appropriate antibiotic therapy in the critically ill requires consideration of important patient-specific factors, such as antibiotic therapy in the preceding 30 days; culture and sensitivity data, if available, within the prior six months; and local resistance patterns.
Does Surviving an ECMO Stay Put Patients at Greater Risk for Mental Health Problems?
Survivors of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) demonstrated a modest increase in risk of new mental health diagnoses after discharge vs. ICU survivors who do not undergo ECMO.
ECMO-Supported CPR Disappoints for Treating Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
For patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest that was refractory to initial resuscitation efforts, adding extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to standard CPR did not result in a significant improvement in survival with favorable neurologic outcome.
Clarity and Consistency Help Families Facing Serious Medical Decisions
Different clinicians use similar-sounding terms. Families may make decisions based on how the clinician presents a situation. It is critical for medical providers to choose their words carefully.
Malpractice Lawsuits Allege Wrongful Prolongation of Life
The top problems in these cases are charting and communication among caregivers.
Multiple Legal Issues with ED End-of-Life Care
An attorney argues missing the opportunity to respect autonomy in care decision-making for a patient who no longer desires curative care should be considered a poor outcome.
Some ED Patients Undergo Unwanted End-of-Life Care
Despite uncertainty, it is possible to provide value-concordant care in the ED. Identify those patients, and initiate decisions based on goals of care, not just by a default reflexive pathway. This could help improve patients’ experiences and outcomes broadly, by targeting the right treatments to the right patients.
Controversy Erupts Over Expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying
Ethical controversy has erupted over Canada’s expansion of eligibility criteria for medical assistance in dying.