Critical Care Alert – August 1, 2005
August 1, 2005
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Missed Opportunities to Improve the Quality of End-of-Life Care
The majority of deaths in American ICUS involve withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining therapy. When such decisions are considered, patients are typically unable to communicate for themselves and, therefore, family members may become the decision-makers. -
Another Reason to Avoid Unnecessary Transfusions
A growing body of literature describes an association between packed red blood cell (pRBC) transfusions and nosocomial infections.1,2 Shorr and colleagues set out to add to this by investigating the relationship between pRBC transfusions and bloodstream infections (BSI) in a large heterogeneous population of ICU patients. -
Does a Negative CT Scan Rule Out Pulmonary Embolism?
In this meta-analysis, Quiroz and colleagues attempted to identify all English-language reports published since 1990 that included at least 3 months of follow-up in patients clinically suspected of having pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE), whose CT angiograms were negative and who did not receive anticoagulant therapy. -
Special Feature: Managing Bronchopleural Fistula During Mechanical Ventilation
Development of a Bronchopleural Fistula (BPF) in a patient receiving mechanical ventilation is a serious complication that causes concern on the part of caregivers and often prompts a variety of changes in management. -
Pharmacology Watch: Antibiotic Treatment of Acute Lower Respiratory Infection
What to do with the Cox-2s; Can Mucomyst Prevent CIN?; Benzodiazepines and Medicare Coverage; FDA Actions -
Clinical Briefs in Primary Care supplement