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The new Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Toolkit for Preventing CLABSI and CAUTI in ICUs offers customizable tools and training resources to help your facility prevent dangerous infections. Its unique design gives users resources to assess current clinical and safety practices, implement a reduction plan, and overcome common cultural and technical challenges in reduction efforts.
This Concise Critical Appraisal delves into a study published in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine that sought to determine whether early hemostatic intervention can prevent the development of DIC and improve outcomes.
Two recent trials suggest that immune-damping drugs such as tocilizumab may reduce mortality in patients with severe COVID-19.
How can clinical information gleaned from focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) be used to augment clinical assessments in children with suspected septic shock? This month’s Concise Critical Appraisal analyzes a study published in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine that sought to show how often a clinician’s hemodynamic characterization of a child with septic shock was altered by FCU and to further validate an expert-developed algorithm for these assessments.
Clostrididioides difficile infection (CDI) occurs in about 4% of ICU patients, causing fulminant colitis and death in nearly 60% of symptomatic critically ill patients, so it is imperative for ICU professionals to stay abreast of the evidence-based advancements of CDI management. In June 2021, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America updated their recommendations on the management of CDI in adults. This Concise Critical Appraisal offers a review of the updated guidelines.
This Concise Critical Appraisal explores a meta-analysis showing that prone positioning is beneficial for patients meeting criteria for venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), especially when initiated within five days after ECMO initiation. When initiated within five days, patients had lower intensive care unit (ICU) mortality rates, higher likelihood of being discharged alive, shorter ECMO duration, and cumulative 90-day probability of being discharged from the ICU.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) new global health initiative, Africa Infrastructure Relief and Support (AIRS), will ensure the availability of medical oxygen to patients in the Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, made possible by a $5.5 million grant from Direct Relief and in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Global Alliance of Perioperative Professionals (GAPP) and the Institute of Global Perioperative Care. Officials in the Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will identify specific medical oxygen-related needs, including hospital-based infrastructure, oxygen-generating plants, and solar energy. SCCM plans to eventually expand the initiative to additional countries.
José L. Díaz-Gómez, MD, FASE, FCCM, rides his bicycle to work every day in Houston, Texas. He passes the Texas Medical Center, where he sees a large Ukrainian flag on one of the hospital buildings. The flag symbolizes support for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, and now when Dr. Díaz-Gómez passes it, he sees something more. He sees courage, responsibility, and hope.
In 2014, Nibras F. Bughrara, MD, FASA, FCCM, joined Albany Medical Center (AMC) in Albany, New York, USA, after completing a critical care medicine fellowship and perioperative echocardiography training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. At the time, he was the only intensivist at AMC using point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS).
Members of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) traveled from the United States to Lviv, Ukraine in March to train more than 140 clinicians on lifesaving critical care ultrasound. Learning and using point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) skills allows Ukrainian medical professionals to quickly diagnose and care for critically ill and injured patients—all the more important as injuries continue to mount in the ongoing Ukrainian humanitarian crisis.
Are push-dose vasopressors (PDPs) safe and effective for patients with hypotension outside the operating room? This Concise Critical Appraisal covers a recent study that sought to determine whether phenylephrine and epinephrine are effective for acute hypotensive periods when PDP protocols are in place.
With children going back to school, continued outbreaks of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the upcoming flu season, it is important to prepare for potential surges of pediatric patients with COVID-19.
Oxygen is essential for human life and has no substitute. Its importance was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic by the many patients who had difficulty breathing. Medical oxygen is used in many different settings, such as intensive care units, operating rooms, delivery rooms, and during emergency transport.
Beth A. Wathen, CCRN-K, MSN, RN, is the current president of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the world’s largest specialty nursing organization. Ms. Wathen has had the unique opportunity to support critical care nurses personally and professionally in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Since becoming president in July, she has balanced the need to continue moving the association forward with recognizing the realities of exhaustion among critical care clinicians.
The members of the Critical Care Societies Collaborative, which are the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), American Thoracic Society (ATS), and Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), strongly urge people to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus and to receive their influenza (flu) immunizations for the upcoming flu season.
In the preliminary analysis of the VIRUS COVID-19 Registry of Discovery, the Critical Care Research Network, investigators discovered significant variations in mortality that were not readily explained by patient comorbidities, demographics, or severity of illness. It became evident that much of the disparity in outcomes was tied to variations in processes of care from one intensive care unit (ICU) to another. This realization inspired the creation of the STOP-VIRUS Learning Collaborative, which seeks to help participants rapidly evaluate and effectively implement best practice recommendations from the ever-evolving body of knowledge related to the care of critically ill patients with COVID-19.
Groundbreaking study of hospitalized COVID-19 and influenza patients charts new path in critical care research Severe Acute Respiratory Infection – Preparedness (SARI-PREP) is a groundbreaking new research platform from SCCM’s Discovery, the Critical Care Research Network, that is leading the way in revolutionizing how critical care research is conducted in the United States. It will inform clinical management of patients with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) and help ensure that health systems are better prepared for future pandemics.
Updated global adult sepsis guidelines, released by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC), place an increased emphasis on improving the care of sepsis patients after they are discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) and represent greater geographic and gender diversity than previous versions. The updated guidelines are especially important today, as many who are seriously ill with COVID-19 are particularly vulnerable to sepsis.
Is prehospital transfusion associated with better outcomes in pediatric trauma? This Concise Critical Appraisal reviews a retrospective study of children who sustained trauma that found that pediatric patients were likely to benefit from early hemostatic resuscitation with blood transfusion.
The Discovery Data Science Campaign was launched in 2022 to improve the care of critically ill patients by leveraging the use of large-scale data (big data) for research. The campaign’s goal is to apply findings from data analysis in a clinical environment through standardized data models and shared resources, starting with the 2023 Datathon.