High cost of stage IV pressure ulcers.

Background: The aim of this study was to calculate and analyze the cost of treatment for stage IV pressure ulcers.

Methods: A retrospective chart analysis of patients with stage IV pressure ulcers was conducted. Hospital records and treatment outcomes of these patients were followed up for a maximum of 29 months and analyzed.

Guidelines for evaluation of new fever in critically ill adult patients: 2008 update from the American College of Critical Care Medicine and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Objective: To update the practice parameters for the evaluation of adult patients who develop a new fever in the intensive care unit, for the purpose of guiding clinical practice.

Participants: A task force of 11 experts in the disciplines related to critical care medicine and infectious diseases was convened from the membership of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Specialties represented included critical care medicine, surgery, internal medicine, infectious diseases, neurology, and laboratory medicine/microbiology.

Early versus late intravenous insulin administration in critically ill patients.

Objective: To investigate whether timing of intensive insulin therapy (IIT) after intensive care unit (ICU) admission influences outcome.

Design And Setting: Single-center prospective cohort study in the 14-bed medical ICU of a 1,171-bed tertiary teaching hospital.

Patients: The study included 127 patients started on ITT within 48 h of ICU admission (early group) and 51 started on ITT thereafter (late group); the groups did not differ in age, gender, race, BMI, APACHE III, ICU steroid use, admission diagnosis, or underlying comorbidities.