Prokinetic agents in adult intensive care unit patients (PATIENCE)-An international inception cohort study protocol.

Background: Feeding intolerance is common in critically ill patients and can lead to malnutrition. Prokinetic agents may be used to enhance the uptake of nutrition. However, the evidence on the effectiveness and safety of prokinetic agents is sparse, and there is a lack of data on their use in intensive care units (ICU).

Preferences for albumin use in adult intensive care unit patients with shock: An international survey.

Introduction: Use of albumin is suggested for some patients with shock, but preferences for its use may vary among intensive care unit (ICU) physicians.

Methods: We conducted an international online survey of ICU physicians with 20 questions about their use of albumin and their opinion towards a randomised trial among adults with shock comparing the use versus no use of albumin.

Results: A total of 1248 respondents participated, with a mean response rate of 37%, ranging from 18% to 75% across 21 countries.

A survey of preferences for respiratory support in the intensive care unit for patients with acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure.

Background: When caring for mechanically ventilated adults with acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure (AHRF), clinicians are faced with an uncertain choice between ventilator modes allowing for spontaneous breaths or ventilation fully controlled by the ventilator. The preferences of clinicians managing such patients, and what motivates their choice of ventilator mode, are largely unknown. To better understand how clinicians' preferences may impact the choice of ventilatory support for patients with AHRF, we issued a survey to an international network of intensive care unit (ICU) researchers.

Criteria for Continuous Kidney Replacement Therapy Cessation in ICU Patients.

Introduction: In intensive care unit (ICU) patients with acute kidney injury, specific recommendations to guide the decision to cease continuous kidney replacement therapy (CKRT) are lacking.

Methods: We performed a survey to identify criteria currently used to cease CKRT in real-life clinical practice in the Netherlands. We used an online questionnaire with multiple choice questions designed with web-based software from SurveyMonkey.

A new tool to assess Clinical Diversity In Meta-analyses (CDIM) of interventions.

Objective: To develop and validate Clinical Diversity In Meta-analyses (CDIM), a new tool for assessing clinical diversity between trials in meta-analyses of interventions.

Study Design And Setting: The development of CDIM was based on consensus work informed by empirical literature and expertise. We drafted the CDIM tool, refined it, and validated CDIM for interrater scale reliability and agreement in three groups.

Apparently conclusive meta-analyses on interventions in critical care may be inconclusive-a meta-epidemiological study.

Objectives: Risks of random type I and II errors are associated with false positive and false negative findings. In conventional meta-analyses, the risks of random errors are insufficiently evaluated. Many meta-analyses, which appear conclusive, might, in fact, be inconclusive because of risks of random errors.

Quality of life in elder adults one-year after coronary bypass.

Background: Survival rates in the elderly after cardiac surgery have improved over the last decades and therewith more attention is directed toward Quality of Life (QoL) as a patient reported outcome measure.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore QoL in patients one year after coronary artery bypass grafting, with special interest in the elderly patients (≥80 years).

Methods: In a quantitative, retrospective single-center study patients with isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (eg, nonvalve) surgery aged 80 years or older and operated in 2013 were included (n = 32).

Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial for anterior inguinal hernia repair: transrectus sheath preperitoneal mesh repair compared to transinguinal preperitoneal procedure.

Background: Anterior open treatment of the inguinal hernia with a tension-free mesh has reduced the incidence of hernia recurrence. The Lichtenstein procedure is the current reference technique for inguinal hernia treatment. Chronic pain has become the main postoperative complication after surgical inguinal hernia repair, especially following Lichtenstein.