Predictors of mortality in patients with rib fractures.

Background: The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for morbidity and mortality in patients with rib fractures with focus on identifying a more exact age-dependent cut-off for increased morbidity and mortality.

Methods: Retrospective study of patients 16 years or older with rib fractures from blunt trauma.

Exclusion Criteria: patients undergoing rib plating.

The effect of robotic telerounding in the surgical intensive care units impact on medical education.

Robotic telerounding is effective from the standpoint of patients' satisfaction and patients' care in teaching and community hospitals. However, the impact of robotic telerounding by the intensivist rounding remotely in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU), on patients' outcome and on the education of medical students physician assistants and surgical residents, as well as on nurses' satisfaction has not been studied. Prospective evaluation of robotic telerounding (RT) using a Likert Scale measuring tool to assess whether it can replace conventional rounding (CR) from the standpoint of patients' care and outcome, nursing satisfaction, and educational effectiveness.