Initiative for Burnout of ICU Caregivers: Feasibility and Preliminary Results of a Psychological Support.

Background: Intensive care unit (ICU) caregivers are at high risk of burnout and the shortage of this highly specialized personal is a problem. The feasibility and impact of a psychological intervention were never assessed in this special context.

Methods: A randomized controlled single-blind study in an ICU.

Advance Directives and Communication Skills of Prehospital Physicians Involved in the Care of Cardiovascular Patients.

Advance directives (AD) were developed to respect patient autonomy. However, very few patients have AD, even in cases when major cardiovascular surgery is to follow. To understand the reasons behind the low prevalence of AD and to help decision making when patients are incompetent, it is necessary to focus on the impact of prehospital practitioners, who may contribute to an increase in AD by discussing them with patients.

Feasibility of a multiple-choice mini mental state examination for chronically critically ill patients.

Objectives: Following treatment in an ICU, up to 70% of chronically critically ill patients present neurocognitive impairment that can have negative effects on their quality of life, daily activities, and return to work. The Mini Mental State Examination is a simple, widely used tool for neurocognitive assessment. Although of interest when evaluating ICU patients, the current version is restricted to patients who are able to speak.

ICU research: the impact of invasiveness on informed consent.

Purpose: Studies into the preferences of patients and relatives regarding informed consent for intensive care unit (ICU) research are ongoing. We investigated the impact of a study's invasiveness on the choice of who should give consent and on the modalities of informed consent.

Methods: At ICU discharge, randomized pairs of patients and relatives were asked to answer a questionnaire about informed consent for research.

Synthesis, structure and properties of {M4O4} cubanes containing nickel(II) and cobalt(II).

A survey of the crystal structures containing simple {M4O4} cubane units is reported. It shows that the average M-M distance in these complexes is relatively constant for a given metal ion M. The structures are all distorted from the idealised cube to a T(d) structure, and most show a further distortion which, however, usually maintains some elements of symmetry.