Critical Care Alert – February 1, 2010
February 1, 2010
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Lending a (Clean) Hand to Infection Prevention Measures: Improving Hand-hygiene Practices
Infection prevention is a priority area of focus for critical care units worldwide. -
Active Involvement of Families in ICU Care Improved Satisfaction with Care Provided
Generally, families of critical care patients are not actively involved in patient care in a consistent or meaningful way. -
Exogenous Surfactant Does Not Improve Outcomes in Adults with Acute Lung Injury or ARDS
This large-scale clinical trial of exogenous surfactant administration in adult patients with acute lung injury (ALI) or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) used internationally accepted diagnostic criteria and the ARDS Net lung-protective ventilation protocol in all patients. -
User-friendliness of the Latest Generation of ICU Ventilators
In an attempt to reproduce the situation in which a covering physician is called urgently to a patient's bedside because of a ventilator-related problem, this laboratory study sought to determine how readily intensivists could operate new-generation ICU mechanical ventilators with which they were not personally familiar. -
Special Feature: Considerations in Developing a Policy for Organ Donation After Cardiac Death
There continues to be a huge discrepancy between the number of individuals on the national waiting list for vital organ transplant and the number of donor organs available. -
Clinical Briefs in Primary Care supplement
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Pharmacology Watch: Dabigatran: An Oral Direct Thrombin Inhibitor
In this issue: Results from a Phase 3 study of dabigatran, intensive lipid-lowering in CVD, H1N1 vaccine dosing and efficacy, and FDA Actions.