Impact of an ultrasound-driven diagnostic protocol at early intensive-care stay: a randomized-controlled trial.

Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a tool in increasing use, but there is still a lack of basics for its routine use and evidence of its impact in intensive care.

Objective: To measure the impact of POCUS on resource utilization, diagnostic accuracy, and clinical management in medical-surgical intensive care units (ICUs).

Methods: Prospective, controlled study, in two polyvalent ICUs.

Delirium in a Latin American intensive care unit. A prospective cohort study of mechanically ventilated patients.

Objective: To establish the prevalence of delirium in a general intensive care unit and to identify associated factors, clinical expression and the influence on outcomes.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study in a medical surgical intensive care unit. The Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale and Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit were used daily to identify delirium in mechanically ventilated patients.