Background: Awake prone positioning (APP) may be beneficial in patients with respiratory failure who are not receiving mechanical ventilation. Randomized controlled trials of APP have been performed during peak COVID-19 periods in unvaccinated populations, with limited data on compliance or patient acceptability. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of APP in a lower-middle income country in an open-label randomized controlled trial using a dedicated APP implementation team and wearable continuous-monitoring devices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in the number of unhoused individuals in Asheville, North Carolina resulting in more tent encampments.Understanding the physical, mental, and socially determined health characteristics associated with being unhoused can help guide stakeholders with policy development, healthcare program planning, and funding decisions to support unhoused individuals.
Methods: In this study, we used an observational cross-section methodology.
Background: Lower limb amputation (LLA) impacts physical activity (PA) participation and quality of life (QoL). To minimize the effects of these challenges, LLA survivors need to have opportunities to engage in appropriately tailored rehabilitation throughout their lives. However, in Sri Lanka, where a 3-decade civil war resulted in trauma-related LLA among young male soldiers, access to rehabilitation was limited to the immediate postinjury period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To systematically review the typology, impact, quality of evidence, barriers, and facilitators to implementation of Quality Improvement (QI) interventions for adult critical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched on 1st September 2022.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant physical and psychological impacts for survivors, and for the healthcare professionals caring for patients. Nurses and doctors in critical care faced longer working hours, increased burden of patients, and limited resources, all in the context of personal social isolation and uncertainties regarding cross-infection. We evaluated the burden of anxiety, depression, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and alcohol dependence among doctors and nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) in Nepal and explored the individual and social drivers for these impacts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSevere community-acquired pneumonia (sCAP) remains one of the leading causes of admission to the intensive care unit, thus consuming a large share of resources and is associated with high mortality rates worldwide. The evidence generated by clinical studies in the last decade was translated into recommendations according to the first published guidelines focusing on severe community-acquired pneumonia. Despite the advances proposed by the present guidelines, several challenges preclude the prompt implementation of these diagnostic and therapeutic measures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: to describe clinical, management and outcome features of critically ill patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) and high dependency units (HDUs) in Kenya.
Design: prospective registry-based observational study.
Setting: three HDUs and eight ICUs in Kenya.
Purpose: Intensive care units (ICUs) in low- and middle-income countries have high mortality rates, and clinical data are needed to guide quality improvement (QI) efforts. This study utilizes data from a validated ICU registry specially developed for resource-limited settings to identify evidence-based QI priorities for ICUs in Ethiopia.
Materials And Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis of data from two tertiary referral hospital ICUs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from July 2021-June 2022 was conducted to describe casemix, complications and outcomes and identify features associated with ICU mortality.
Background: Improved access to healthcare in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has not equated to improved health outcomes. Absence or unsustained quality of care is partly to blame. Improving outcomes in intensive care units (ICUs) requires delivery of complex interventions by multiple specialties working in concert, and the simultaneous prevention of avoidable harms associated with the illness and the treatment interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: The efficacy of vitamin C for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is uncertain.
Objective: To determine whether vitamin C improves outcomes for patients with COVID-19.
Design, Setting, And Participants: Two prospectively harmonized randomized clinical trials enrolled critically ill patients receiving organ support in intensive care units (90 sites) and patients who were not critically ill (40 sites) between July 23, 2020, and July 15, 2022, on 4 continents.
Background: The effect of conservative vs. liberal oxygen therapy on 90-day in-hospital mortality in adults who have nonhypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy acute brain injuries and conditions and are receiving invasive mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU) is uncertain.
Objective: The objective of this study was to summarise the protocol and statistical analysis plan for the Mega-ROX Brains trial.
Background: The effect of conservative vs. liberal oxygen therapy on 90-day in-hospital mortality in adults with sepsis receiving unplanned invasive mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU) is uncertain.
Objective: The objective of this study was to summarise the protocol and statistical analysis plan for the Mega-ROX Sepsis trial.
Objectives: Clinical quality registries (CQRs) have been implemented worldwide by several medical specialties aiming to generate a better characterization of epidemiology, treatments, and outcomes of patients. National ICU registries were created almost 3 decades ago to improve the understanding of case-mix, resource use, and outcomes of critically ill patients. This narrative review describes the challenges, proposed solutions, and evidence generated by National ICU registries as facilitators for research and quality improvement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Sickle cell disease (SCD) in pregnancy is associated with worse maternal and neonatal outcomes. There is limited available data describing the burden and outcomes of critically ill obstetric patients affected by SCD in low-income settings.
Objectives: We aimed to define SCD burden and impact on mortality in critically-ill obstetric patients admitted to an urban referral hospital in Sierra Leone.
Background: Critically ill patients have life-threatening conditions requiring immediate vital organ function intervention. But, critical illness in the emergency department (ED) has not been comprehensively described in resource-limited settings. Understanding the characteristics and dynamics of critical illness can help hospitals prepare for and ensure the continuum of care for critically ill patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To describe the organisation, staffing patterns and resources available in critical care units in Kenya. The secondary objective was to explore variations between units in the public and private sectors.
Materials And Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was used to collect data on organisational characteristics (model of care, type of unit, quality- related activities, use of electronic medical records and participation in the national ICU registry), staffing and available resources for monitoring, ventilation and general critical care.
Background: The paucity of state-supported rehabilitation for chronically ill patients with long-term tracheostomies has ramifications of prolonged hospital-stay, increased burden on acute-care resources, and nosocomial infections. Few interventions describe home rehabilitation of adult tracheostomized patients. Almost none involve stakeholders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a large number of critical care admissions. While national reports have described the outcomes of patients with COVID-19, there is limited international data of the pandemic impact on non-COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care treatment.
Methods: We conducted an international, retrospective cohort study using 2019 and 2020 data from 11 national clinical quality registries covering 15 countries.