Background: Survivors of intensive care unit (ICU) admission experience significant deficits in health-related quality of life due to long-term physical, psychological, and cognitive sequelae of critical illness, which may persist for many years. There has been a proliferation of post-hospital interventions in recent years which aim to support ICU-survivors, however there is currently limited evidence to inform optimal approach. We therefore aimed to synthesise factors which impacted the implementation of these interventions from the perspective of healthcare providers, patients, and their carers, and to compare different intervention designs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: For hospitalized critically ill adults with suspected sepsis, procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) monitoring protocols can guide the duration of antibiotic therapy, but the evidence of the effect and safety of these protocols remains uncertain.
Objective: To determine whether decisions based on assessment of CRP or PCT safely results in a reduction in the duration of antibiotic therapy.
Design, Setting, And Participants: A multicenter, intervention-concealed randomized clinical trial, involving 2760 adults (≥18 years), in 41 UK National Health Service (NHS) intensive care units, requiring critical care within 24 hours of initiating intravenous antibiotics for suspected sepsis and likely to continue antibiotics for at least 72 hours.
Background: Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) is a supportive therapy for acute respiratory failure with increased risk of packed red blood cells (PRBC) transfusion. Blood cell salvage (BCS) aims to reduce blood transfusion, but its efficacy is unclear. This study aimed to estimate the effect of BCS at the time of removal of the ECMO circuit (ECMO decannulation) on PRBC transfused.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In Europe, approximately 291,000 cardiac arrests occur annually. Despite critical care therapy, hospital mortality remains high. This systematic review assessed whether, in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest, any drug therapy, compared to placebo or usual care, improves outcomes.
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