-
In a hospital with high ICU bed occupancy, delays in transferring critically ill patients from the emergency department or general wards to the ICU were associated with increased mortality in comparison with immediate transfer to an ICU bed, and this increased mortality was incrementally greater with increasing delay.
-
Involving family members in ICU rounds improved satisfaction in some areas, such as physician communication and decision-making support, but failed to improve overall family satisfaction.
-
-
In assessment of acute chest pain in the emergency room, a new or "presumably new" left bundle branch block (LBBB) is considered as an electrocardiographic (ECG) equivalent to ST elevation.
-
This retrospective study of more than 7000 patients from four combined medical-surgical ICUs demonstrated that ionized calcium levels are unrelated to mortality over a broad range of values but are independent predictors of mortality when levels are severely increased or decreased.
-
Forty-four (23%) of 192 adventure race participants in a 2005 Florida event developed suspected leptospirosis, with confirmatory serologic testing positive in 45% of the tested individuals. A unique serovar (related to species Leptospira noguchii) was isolated from 1 patient.
-
High sensitivity C-reactive protein may be useful in acute viral or idiopathic pericarditis for establishing the diagnosis, determining the duration of therapy, and suggesting when to escalate therapy.
-
It has been speculated that children growing up in an overly clean, suburban environment may experience greater atopy and asthma than children growing up in the inner city or on a farm.
-
Interact included 404 patients with acute intracere-bral hemorrhage (ICH), elevated systolic blood pressure (BP) (150 to 220 mmHg), and capacity to lower BP within 6 hours of onset. CT was performed at baseline and at 24 hours to compare hematoma size.
-
A prodrug of gabapentin has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of restless legs syndrome (RLS).
