Researchers find gram-negative rods in two Philippine neonatal intensive care...
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found a high frequency of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative rods (GNRs) in two of the largest neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in...
View ArticleBlacks more likely to opt for life-sustaining measures at end of life
When faced with a terminal illness, African-American seniors were two times more likely than whites to say they would want life-prolonging treatments, according to a University of Pittsburgh study...
View ArticleVideos can help cancer patients choose level of care they prefer
Patients with terminal brain cancer who watched a brief video illustrating options for end-of-life care were significantly more likely to indicate a preference for comfort measures only than were...
View ArticleDoctors develop life-saving, low-cost ventilators for emergency, rural and...
A group of UK anaesthetists have designed and tested three prototype low-cost ventilators that could provide vital support during major healthcare emergencies involving large numbers of patients or...
View ArticleKentucky research looks at respiratory weakness in ICU morbidity
A University of Kentucky researcher is investigating respiratory weakness as a factor in the morbidity of intensive-care patients and will soon be testing new treatments that could improve long-term...
View ArticleSurvival benefit with high-intensity end-of-life approaches
Patients admitted to hospitals with higher-intensity end-of-life care live longer than those admitted to hospitals with low-intensity approaches, according to a University of Pittsburgh study available...
View ArticleElderly patients who survive ICU stay have high rate of death in following years
An analysis of Medicare data indicates that elderly patients who are hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU) and survive to be discharged from the hospital have a high rate of death in the...
View ArticleChest X-rays can help predict which H1N1 patients are at greatest risk
A new study published in the April issue of Radiology suggests that chest x-rays may play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of H1N1 influenza by predicting which patients are likely to...
View ArticleSlumber aids could improve intensive care outcomes
Eye masks and earplugs could help hospital patients get a better night's sleep. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care investigated their effect on sleep quality in a...
View ArticleStudy examines outcomes of early vs. late tracheotomy for mechanically...
Adult ICU patients who received tracheotomy 6 to 8 days vs. 13 to 15 days after mechanical ventilation did not have a significant reduction in the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia, according to...
View ArticleICU infection rates not a good measure of mortality risk
ICU-acquired infection rates are not an indication of patients' mortality risk, according to researchers the University of Pennsylvania, undermining a central tenet of many pay-for-performance...
View ArticleEarly vs. late tracheotomy does not reduce mortality in ICU patients
Early tracheotomy in ICU patients on mechanical ventilation (MV) did not reduce mortality when compared to later tracheotomy in a study of cardiac surgery patients requiring prolonged ventilation in a...
View ArticleDifferent dosing, administration of corticosteroids for severe COPD shows...
In contrast to clinical guidelines, new research finds that the vast majority of patients hospitalized for severe symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were initially treated with...
View ArticleUse of specialist retrieval teams to transport sick children is associated...
A study published Online First in The Lancet shows that use of specialist retrieval teams, rather than non-specialist teams, to transfer sick children to a hospital with a specialised paediatric...
View ArticleSurrogate decision makers wish to retain authority in difficult decision
The decision to stop life-support for incapacitated and critically ill patients is, for surrogate decision makers, often fraught with moral and ethical uncertainty, and long-term emotional...
View ArticleMusic relieves stress of assisted breathing
Patients who need assistance to breathe through mechanical ventilation may benefit from listening to music, a new review published in The Cochrane Library shows. The researchers found that music...
View ArticleOlder survivors of mechanical ventilation can expect significant disability
Patients aged 65 and older who survive an episode of mechanical ventilation during a hospitalization are more likely to suffer from long-term disabilities after leaving the hospital than those who...
View ArticleHydrocortisone therapy for trauma patients associated with reduced...
Patients admitted to a hospital with major trauma and treated with the steroid hydrocortisone were less likely to be diagnosed with hospital-acquired pneumonia than patients who received placebo,...
View ArticleEnergy-positive with natural ventilation
Buildings can be air-conditioned using entirely natural means, without mechanical ventilation systems. This is the claim made by 78-year-old Benjamin Bronsema, who will be awarded his PhD for his...
View ArticleNew device implanted by surgeons help paralyzed patients breathe easier
Physicians at UT Southwestern Medical Center soon will begin implanting a new device designed to improve breathing in patients with upper spinal-cord injuries or other diseases that keep them from...
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