Functional independence and spirometry in adult post-intensive care unit patients.

Objective: To relate functional independence to the degree of pulmonary impairment in adult patients 3 months after discharge from the intensive care unit.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted in one adult intensive care unit and a multi-professional post-intensive care unit outpatient clinic of a single center. Patients admitted to the intensive care unit from January 2012 to December 2013 who underwent (3 months later) spirometry and answered the Functional Independence Measure Questionnaire were included.

Effects of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation of the Quadriceps and Diaphragm in Critically Ill Patients: A Pilot Study.

Background: Deep and respiratory muscle disorders are commonly observed in critically ill patients. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is an alternative to mobilize and to exercise that does not require active patient participation and can be used on bedridden patients.

Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of the NMES therapy in quadriceps versus diaphragm subjects in mechanical ventilation (MV).

Characteristics and Outcomes of Intensive Care Unit Survivors: Experience of a Multidisciplinary Outpatient Clinic in a Teaching Hospital.

Objectives: To describe the experience of an outpatient clinic with the multidisciplinary evaluation of intensive care unit survivors and to analyze their social, psychological, and physical characteristics in a low-income population and a developing country.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study. Adult survivors from a general intensive care unit were evaluated three months after discharge in a post-intensive care unit outpatient multidisciplinary clinic over a period of 6 years (2008-2014) in a University Hospital in southern Brazil.

Comparison of Proportional Assist Ventilation Plus, T-Tube Ventilation, and Pressure Support Ventilation as Spontaneous Breathing Trials for Extubation: A Randomized Study.

Background: Failure to wean can prolong ICU stay, increase complications associated with mechanical ventilation, and increase morbidity and mortality. The spontaneous breathing trial (SBT) is one method used to assess weaning. The aim of this study was to assess proportional assist ventilation plus (PAV+) as an SBT by comparing its applicability, safety, and efficacy with T-tube and pressure support ventilation (PSV).

Passive orthostatism (tilt table) in critical patients: Clinicophysiologic evaluation.

Purpose: To assess the effects of passive orthostatism on various clinicophysiologic parameters of adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients, by daily placement on a tilt table.

Materials And Methods: This prospective cohort study was performed in a general ICU. Twenty-three patients 18 years or older, intubated or tracheostomized, without sedation and under weaning from mechanical ventilation, were analyzed.

Influence of prone positioning on premature newborn infant stress assessed by means of salivary cortisol measurement: pilot study.

Objective: This study sought to assess the influence of prone positioning on the stress of newborn premature infants through the measurement of the salivary cortisol concentration and the evaluation of physiological and behavioral responses before and after changes in body positioning.

Methods: Saliva samples were collected from newborn infants at two different times: the first (corresponding to the baseline) after a period of 40 minutes during which the infants were not subjected to any manipulation and were placed in the lateral or supine position, and the second 30 minutes after placement in the prone position. Variables including heart rate, respiratory rate, peripheral oxygen saturation, and the Brazelton sleep score were recorded before, during, and at the end of the period in the prone position.

Delirium during Weaning from Mechanical Ventilation.

Background. We compare the incidence of delirium before and after extubation and identify the risk factors and possible predictors for the occurrence of delirium in this group of patients. Methods.