ICU Management & Practice, Volume 22 - Issue 1, 2022 Patient Safety in the ICU: Exploring Trends in Adverse Events in ICUs Adverse events (AEs) are common among critically ill patients. Evidence about the nature, preventability and predictability of AEs can be used to reinvest in efforts to reduce them and improve patient safety in ICUs. Case Mr. A, a previously well 70-year-old male was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with respiratory failu...

Editorial March 24, 2022 COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines During Pregnancy: New Evidence to Help Address Vaccine Hesitancy Elyse O. Kharbanda, Gabriela Vazquez-Benitez JAMA. 2022;327(15):1451-1453. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.2459 SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy is associated with increased risk for maternal morbidity and adverse birth outcomes.1,2 COVID-19 vaccines are effective for preventing severe disease, including in pregnant populations.3 Although ...

ED Admission and Adherence to Surviving Sepsis Campaign Bundle Approximately 85,000 patients are admitted to the emergency department in the U.S. each year for sepsis or septic shock. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) has established International clinical practice guidelines for managing these patients. The guidelines consist of a bundle that includes treatments for various components of sepsis, including rapid fluid resuscitation, administration of antibiotics,...

Compassionate Care in the ICU Over the years, there have been many advancements in the understanding of critical illness pathophysiology, technologies used to support failing organ systems, and improvements in communication and shared decision-making. In this review, the authors reflect on the role of compassion and openness of critical care clinicians when supporting patients, their families and ICU colleagues, especially when facing health or life-threatening ill...

Therapeutic Hyperthermia and Survival in Critically Ill Afebrile Sepsis Patients A major feature of infection is fever. However, less than half of critically ill patients with sepsis have a fever at the time of diagnosis. Afebrile patients with sepsis have nearly twice the mortality and are more likely to develop secondary infections than patients with fever. Fever is thus an adaptive response to the infection and is critical for survival. Studies have shown elevat...

ERC-ESICM Guidelines on Temperature Control After Cardiac Arrest The European Resuscitation Council (ERC) and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) have released new guidelines on temperature control after cardiac arrest in adults. The term Targeted Temperature Management (TTM) is used to describe temperature control after cardiac arrest. However, recently the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Task Force of the International Lisbon Committee on Resus...

COMMENT|ONLINE FIRST Convalescent plasma in outpatients with COVID-19 Daniele Focosi, Arturo Casadevall Lancet Respir Med Published:February 09, 2022 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00050-9 In The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Andrea Alemany and colleagues1 report the results of CONV-ERT, a multicentre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial (RCT), administering locally sourced, high-titre COVID-19 convalescent plasma or saline to 376 outpatient...

Findings from the SAMDS-ICU Survey Pain is one of the most distressful symptoms among critically ill patients, along with shortness of breath and delirium. Pain is reported by 38 to 51% of patients at risk of dying. Delirium is highly prevalent among patients who are critically ill and is associated with worse short-term and long-term outcomes, including in-hospital mortality, longer duration of mechanical ventilation, longer stay in the hospital and the ICU and co...

Critical Care Surge Response During COVID-19 In 2014, a consensus statement was published on mass critical care during public health emergencies. Over the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted gaps in prior pandemic planning and the need for modification based on experiences acquired during the surges of COVID-19 throughout the world. A subcommittee from the Task Force for Mass Critical Care (TFMCC) investigated the recent COVID-19 publications a...

COMMENT|ONLINE FIRST Severe influenza: is there a role for antiviral combinations? Siddharth Sridhar, Kelvin Kai-Wang To Lancet Infect Dis Published:January 24, 2022 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00484-9 Neuraminidase inhibitors have been approved for over 20 years and are currently the standard of care for the treatment of influenza. However, meta-analyses have shown only modest benefit of neuraminidase inhibitors for influenza.1, 2 N...