Challenging Organizational Factors Associated With Admission Delay to Intensive Care Unit-A Novel Quality Indicator.

Background: Delays in admitting patients to the intensive care unit ICU) can defer the timely initiation of life-sustaining therapies and invasive monitoring, jeopardizing the success of the treatment. Nevertheless, the availability of research on interventions that reduce or minimize admission delays is limited.

Objectives: The current study aimed to assess the factors related to delays in admission times of critically ill patients transferred to the ICU.

Ultrasonography can replace chest X-rays in the postoperative care of thoracic surgical patients.

Objectives: Lung ultrasound accurately identifies pulmonary and pleural pathologies. Presently it has not been accepted as a routine examination in the postoperative follow-up of thoracic surgical patients. The present study aimed to compare thoracic ultrasonography with chest X-ray for detecting and clinical relevance of pneumothorax, pleural effusion, and lung consolidation and determine whether ultrasonography could replace chest X-ray as the standard examination after surgery.

Spontaneous Pathologic Splenic Rupture in a Patient with Infection, First Case Reported in Israel.

Travelers exposed to malaria may develop severe disease and complications. A less well-known complication is spontaneous pathologic splenic rupture, which is still under-reported and has never been reported in Israel. In this paper, we report a 23 years old healthy young man presenting in the emergency department, two weeks after coming back from Sierra Leone, with intermittent fever, mild tachycardia and mild left upper quadrant abdominal pain.

Clinical Course and Outcomes of Severe Covid-19: A National Scale Study.

Unlabelled: Knowledge of the outcomes of critically ill patients is crucial for health and government officials who are planning how to address local outbreaks. The factors associated with outcomes of critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) who required treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) are yet to be determined.

Methods: This was a retrospective registry-based case series of patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 who were referred for ICU admission and treated in the ICUs of the 13 participating centers in Israel between 5 March and 27 April 2020.

Speckle tracking technology for quantifying lung sliding.

Ultrasound (US) is gaining recognition as a useful tool for assessing lung physiology and pathology. Yet, currently the skill of performing lung US is taught by experienced operators to novice ones, mainly by recognizing expected patterns. Recognizing the latter may be difficult and subjective.

[Seeing the sounds--chest and lung ultrasonography].

Chest ultrasonography was considered hampered and deficient but it is now taking a prominent role as a bedside tool for the diagnosis of lung ailments. Technological development has made it accurate, fast and reliable to the extent that it is gradually replacing the traditional chest X-ray and sometimes also the computed tomography scan. In this article we review and display in a few images the diagnostic possibilities of the thoracic ultrasound examination in a diverse range of maladies such as pneumonia, pulmonary congestion, pleural effusion and other conditions.

Merging ultrasound in the intensive care routine.

Background: Goal-oriented ultrasound examination is gaining a place in the intensive care unit. Some protocols have been proposed but the applicability of ultrasound as part of a routine has not been studied.

Objectives: To assess the influence of ultrasound performed by intensive care physicians.

Red blood cell transfusions--are we narrowing the evidence-practice gap? An observational study in 5 Israeli intensive care units.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to document transfusion practices in a cross section of general intensive care units (ICUs) in Israel and to determine whether current guidelines are being applied.

Materials And Methods: This prospective study was performed in 5 general ICUs in Israel over a 3-month period. Red cell transfusion data collected on consecutive patients included the trigger, units transfused per transfusion event, and indications, categorized either to treat a specified condition for which transfusions may be beneficial (acute hemorrhage, acute myocardial ischemia, or severe sepsis) or to treat a low hemoglobin concentration.

Evaluation of changes in forgoing life-sustaining treatment in Israeli ICU patients.

Introduction: Over the last several years, there have been legal decisions and changes in medical directives concerning end-of-life decisions in Israel.

Methods: The data were compared to evaluate the changes in the frequency and types of forgoing of life-sustaining treatment (FLST) in patients who were admitted to the ICU during period I (November 1994 to July 1995) and period II (January 1998 to January 1999).

Results: During period I, there were 385 ICU admissions, and during period II there were 627 ICU admissions.

End-of-life intensive care unit decisions, communication, and documentation: an evaluation of physician training.

Purpose: The majority of patients dying in intensive care units (ICUs) do so after the forgoing of life-sustaining therapies (FLST). Communication between physicians, patients, and their families regarding the decision to FLST has not been evaluated in Israel.

Materials And Methods: All patients who had FLST in a general ICU were enrolled in the study.