Ventilatory Settings and Outcomes in OHCA patients Protective ventilation strategies are commonly applied in patients after cardiac arrest. However, the optimal ventilatory settings in these patients and their association with patient outcomes remain unclear.  The goal of this study was to describe the ventilatory settings applied in the first 72 hours of mechanical ventilation in patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and their association wi...

Long vs Short Duration Antibiotic Therapy for VAP Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the ICU. It accounts for nearly 25% of infections in ICU patients. While there are guidelines to treat VAP, uncertainties remain when treating VAP due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA-VAP), and the optimal duration of antibiotic therapy continues to be debated. In addition, there is limited evidence regarding the recurrence r...

Effect of Prone Position C-ARDS COVID-19 has resulted in the death of over 4 million people worldwide. In severe cases of COVID-19, acute respiratory infection leads to severe pneumonia, which worries to progress hypoxaemia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).  Prolonged sessions in the prone position is an effective intervention to decrease mortality in these patients. It has been adopted for the treatment of C-ARDS, both before intubation and d...

Continuous Monitoring of Patients Using Wearable Technology Vital sign deterioration may be preventable if strategies are used to identify patients at a higher risk. Early Warning Score (EWS) systems were developed many years ago to identify patients at risk of clinical deterioration using physiological parameter-based protocols. Since then, many hospitals have adopted periodic vital sign monitoring protocols which mandate a stepwise increase in vital sign measurem...

ICU Management & Practice, Volume 22 - Issue 1, 2022 Processes to Reduce Medication Errors in the ICU Medication errors are common in the complex environment of the ICU. This article provides an overview of the prevalence and impact of these errors and the processes that could help reduce their incidence. Introduction Medicines are the most widely used intervention in the critical care environment, and errors in medication use are a well-established c...

#LIVES2022: High-Flow Nasal Cannula Oxygen vs Standard Oxygen Therapy - SOHO-COVID At the Presidents' Ground Breaking Research Release session at ESICM LIVES 2022 in Paris, Jean-Pierre Frat (Poitiers, France) presented the findings from the Standard Oxygen Versus High Flow Cannula Oxygen Therapy in Patients With Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure (SOHO-COVID) trial.  COVID-19 has resulted in over six million deaths worldwide due to acute hypoxaemic respira...

#LIVES2022: Extubation Strategies in Neuro-Intensive Care Unit Patients Findings from the Extubation strategies and in Neuro-Intensive care unit patients and associations with Outcomes (ENIO) study were presented this week at ESICM LIVES 2022.  Invasive mechanical ventilation is a primary intervention in critically ill patients. Timely weaning reduces the risk of hospital-acquired pneumonia, chronic illness and cost of care. In particular, neurocritical car...

Clinical Subtypes in Sepsis Survivors The risk of late mortality in sepsis survivors can persist for years with high readmission rates and poor quality of life. However, due to an incomplete understanding of the relevant causal mechanisms of post-sepsis syndrome, there has been limited success in implementing preventive interventions.  The French and European Outcome Registry in Intensive Care Units (FROG-ICU) prospective, observational, multicentre study w...

Gram Stain-Guided Antibiotic Therapy in Patients With VAP The increase of multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms in ICUs is a well-recognised threat. Due to a lack of development of new pharmaceutical agents, there are now only a few antibiotics that are effective against these organisms. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also highlighted the need to develop a global action plan to address antimicrobial resistance and optimise the use of antibiotic age...

Editorial  October 26, 2022 Early Oxygen Supplementation After Resuscitation From Cardiac Arrest Jonathan Elmer, Francis X. Guyette JAMA. Published online October 26, 2022. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.18620 Supplemental oxygen administration was first noted to correct signs and symptoms of hypoxic respiratory failure more than a century ago.1,2 Since that time, oxygen has become one of the most widely administered therapeutic interventions in ...