Length of Stay, Mortality, Cost, and Perceptions of Care Associated With Transition From an Open to Closed Staffing Model in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.

Background: Organizational models in the intensive care unit (ICU) have classically been described as either closed or open, depending on the presence or absence of a dedicated ICU team. Although a closed model has been shown to improve patient outcomes in medical and surgical ICUs, the merits of various care models have not been previously explored in the cardiac ICU (CICU) setting.

Methods: From November 2012 to March 2014, data were prospectively collected on all admissions before and after transition from an open to closed CICU at our institution.

Delirium is a robust predictor of morbidity and mortality among critically ill patients treated in the cardiac intensive care unit.

Background: Delirium is common in the medical and surgical intensive care unit (ICU), and its association with morbidity and mortality is well described. Despite emerging data, which have highlighted a growing critical care burden in the contemporary cardiac ICU (CICU), much less is known about delirium in this specialized setting.

Methods And Results: Records for consecutive CICU patients aged ≥18 years who were admitted to our academic, tertiary care institution from December 2012 to March 2014 for a primary cardiovascular diagnosis were reviewed.

The role of heart failure pharmacotherapy after left ventricular assist device support.

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are an increasingly common treatment for end-stage systolic heart failure. However, there are limited data on how to best treat patients pharmacologically after LVAD implantation, resulting in uncertainty about which heart failure medications provide the most benefit. Still, some evidence exists that certain medical therapies can prevent remodeling and improve right ventricular and, possibly, left ventricular function.

[Agonists of opioid receptors may aggravate ischemic and reperfusion damages of the heart].

Authors analyzed articles that opioids may aggravate ischemic and reperfusion damages of the heart but the opioid receptor antagonists may prevent these damages. Authors concluded the it is existed opioid receptor pool an activation of its decreases cardiac tolerance to an impact of ischemia-reperfusion.