Critical Care Topics
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Wrongful Prolongation of Life Suits Persist, Even When a Patient’s Status Was DNR
Regardless of training or good intentions to preserve life, at the end of the day, this is the patient's choice.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Malpractice Lawsuits Allege Wrongful Prolongation of Life
The top problems in these cases are charting and communication among caregivers.
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Apixaban for Venous Thromboembolism in Patients with End-Stage Kidney Disease
There is a lower risk of bleeding for those taking apixaban during venous thromboembolism treatment compared to warfarin in patients with end-stage kidney disease.