Continuous Beta-Lactam Administration in Critically Ill Patients In ICU Wed, 19 Mar 2025 Infections are prevalent among critically ill patients and significantly contribute to increased mortality rates and healthcare costs in ICUs. The administration of antibiotics, particularly β-lactam antibiotics, remains a cornerstone in the treatment of severe infections in these settings. However, optimising antibiotic therapy in critically ill patients is challe...

Pathways to Mortality in Critical Illness In ICU Wed, 19 Mar 2025 The complexity of clinical trials in critical illness remains a significant challenge. A discussion at the ISICEM Congress in Brussels focused on why trials often fail, the role of heterogeneity in patient responses, and emerging methodologies to improve our understanding of pathways to outcomes. For over 30 years, researchers have debated why clinical trials in critical illness strug...

Blood Lactate Levels: Past, Present and Future In ICU Wed, 19 Mar 2025 At the opening session at ISICEM Congress in Brussels, Prof Jan Bakker talked about the past, present and future of blood lactate levels.  Lactate has long been recognised as a crucial biomarker in critical care, particularly in the assessment of circulatory failure and shock. The late Dr Max Harry Weil contributed significantly to this field, emphasising that an elevated lactate...

Editorial  May 2, 2025 Triage, the Tip of the Shears N. Seth Trueger, Ari B. Friedman JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(5):e258508. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.8508 In this issue of JAMA Network Open, Sax and colleagues1 analyze the association of triage accuracy for emergency department (ED) patients with 3 critical diagnoses with time-dependent interventions: ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and aort...

Burnout in the ICU – Still a Work in Progress In ICU Mon, 10 Mar 2025 ICU Management & Practice, Volume 25 - Issue 1, 2025 Burnout of the healthcare workforce, and particularly of critical care clinicians, is an active global concern, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We present the definition and factors contributing to burnout specifically in the ICU, discuss the misconceptions around the use of burnout measurement tools, and hi...

Critical Care Burnout: A Look at Global Burnout Initiatives In ICU Mon, 10 Mar 2025 An overview of literature surrounding the effectiveness of burnout initiatives and implementation of successful programmes from Emory Critical Care Center.   Burnout, a chronic condition of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced professional accomplishment, has plagued the global health system for years (Alahmari et al. 2022; De Hert 2020; Moll et ...

Disorders of Consciousness in the ICU In ICU Tue, 18 Mar 2025 A roundtable discussion at the ISICEM Congress in Brussels on disorders of consciousness (DoC) focused on enhancing understanding, diagnosis, and prognosis for patients in ICUs.  The main takeaway is that disorders of consciousness represent a continuum, and diagnoses should not be limited to binary terms like "coma" or "awake." These states can involve complex cognitive-motor dissociatio...

Withdraw or Withhold Life-Sustaining Therapies in Patients With and Without Acute Brain Injury In ICU Tue, 18 Mar 2025 The decision to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining therapies (WLST) is a significant factor in many ICU deaths, influenced by patient factors such as age, comorbidities, illness severity, and patient or surrogate preferences. In patients with acute brain injuries (ABIs), WLST decisions may be particularly influenced by expectations o...

Invited Commentary  Health Policy February 19, 2025 Understanding and Addressing the US Hospital Bed Shortage—Build, Baby, Build Alexander T. Janke, Arjun K. Venkatesh JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(2):e2460652. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.60652 For decades, policymakers have faced the impossible task of balancing concurrent and competing demands for high-quality, broadly accessible, and affordable hospital care. These demands have created th...

Perspective  AI in Medicine April 28, 2025 DeepSeek’s “Low-Cost” Adoption Across China’s Hospital Systems: Too Fast, Too Soon? Dian Zeng, Yiming Qin, Bin Sheng, et al JAMA. Published online April 28, 2025. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.6571 The large language models (LLMs) DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1, developed by a subsidiary of a Chinese quantitative investment company, have the distinct advantages of being low...