Original Investigation Prevalence and Outcomes of Infection Among Patients in Intensive Care Units in 2017 Jean-Louis Vincent, Yasser Sakr, Mervyn Singer, et al JAMA. Published online March 24, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.2717 Importance Infection is frequent among patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Contemporary information about the types of infections, causative pathogens, and outcomes can aid the development of policies for prevention, diagnosis,...

Management of Adult Acute and Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure in the ICU Both acute liver failure (ALF) and acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF) are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Even today, medical treatment of these two disorders has limited benefits and for those who fail to respond, the only viable treatment is a liver transplant. Both ALF and ACLF rarely occur in isolation and in most cases there is multiple organ involvement. As with many critical...

JAMA Infographic February 26, 2020 Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Influenza 2019-2020 Edward Livingston, Karen Bucher, Andrew Rekito JAMA. 2020;323(12):1122. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.2633

Coronavirus and the Potential Role of ECMO The relatively new coronavirus has already infected thousands of patients in China and is now rapidly spreading globally. Many countries have already reported cases of coronavirus and the WHO has declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a public health emergency and has released preliminary guidelines on management of patients.  Most reports out of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, indicate that COVID-19 primarily a...

Research Perioperative interventions for prevention of postoperative pulmonary complications: systematic review and meta-analysis Peter M Odor, Sohail Bampoe, David Gilhooly, et al BMJ 2020;368:m540 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m540   Abstract Objective To identify, appraise, and synthesise the best available evidence on the efficacy of perioperative interventions to reduce postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) in adult patients undergoing non...

Critical Care Response to Coronavirus Outbreak in Shenzhen, China In December 2019, there was an outbreak of a novel virus in Wuhan, China. Termed nCOV or coronavirus disease by the WHO, this infection is now a major public health concern not only in China but globally. The 2019 nCOV pandemic has led to a major influx of infected patients to hospitals and in particular to intensive care units. In China, this has already strained medical facilities and healthcare w...

Editorial March 16, 2020 Editorial Concern—Possible Reporting of the Same Patients With COVID-19 in Different Reports Howard Bauchner, Robert M. Golub, Jody Zylke JAMA. Published online March 16, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.3980 Since January 1, 2020, JAMA and the JAMA Network journals have received hundreds of manuscripts and direct queries related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including research reports, case series and cas...

Clinical Trials of Artificial Intelligence With the introduction of computers and advanced technology, the majority of patient data is now captured digitally. And this has allowed opportunities for machine learning. Today, machine learning is frequently used to make diagnosis or predict disease outcomes, optimise treatment decisions and determine the prognosis of patients.  While there is growing excitement about the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) in medici...

JAMA Infographic March 17, 2020 Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Italy Edward Livingston, Karen Bucher JAMA. Published online March 17, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.4344

Delirium Subtypes in Adult ICUs Delirium is a common problem in patients admitted to the intensive care unit and is associated with increased length of hospital stay, high mortality and long term cognitive impairment. Delayed diagnosis can often make things worse. Delirium is known to fluctuate in its presentation and its severity can also vary. Delirium is generally classified into one of three subtypes- hypoactive (inattentiveness, lethargy, and motor slown...