Survival and Safety Outcomes of ICU Patients Discharged Directly Home-A Direct From ICU Sent Home Study.

Objectives: Evaluate outcomes (mortality, morbidity, unplanned return visits) of patients who are discharged directly to home from the ICU.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Two tertiary care medical-surgical-trauma ICUs at Canadian hospitals over 1 year (February 2016-2017).

Patient, Family, and Physician Satisfaction With Planning for Direct Discharge to Home From Intensive Care Units: Direct From ICU Sent Home Study.

Background: In the new era of decreasing hospital bed availability, there is an increasing rate of direct discharge to home (DDH) from intensive care units (ICUs), despite sparse literature informing this practice.

Objectives: To evaluate patient, family, and ICU attending physician satisfaction with planning for DDH from the ICU and intensivists' current DDH practices and perceptions.

Methods: Prospective cohort study, using convenience sampling, of adult patients undergoing DDH from an ICU between February 2016 and February 2017 using a modified FS-ICU 24 satisfaction survey completed by patients, family members, and attending physicians at the time of patient discharge to home from the ICU.

Factors Associated With the Increasing Rates of Discharges Directly Home From Intensive Care Units-A Direct From ICU Sent Home Study.

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between rates of discharge directly to home (DDH) from the intensive care unit (ICU) and bed availability (ward and ICU). Also to identify patient characteristics that make them candidates for safe DDH and describe transfer delay impact on length of stay (LOS).

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of all adult patients who survived their stay in our medical-surgical-trauma ICU between April 2003 and March 2015.

A Pilot Randomized Trial Comparing Weaning From Mechanical Ventilation on Pressure Support Versus Proportional Assist Ventilation.

Objectives: Despite protocols incorporating spontaneous breathing trials, 31% of ICU patients experience difficult or prolonged weaning from mechanical ventilation. Nonfatiguing modes such as pressure support ventilation are recommended. Proportional assist ventilation provides assistance in proportion to patient effort, which may optimize weaning.

Impact of intensive care unit discharge time on patient outcome.

Objective: To determine the impact of nighttime intensive care unit (ICU) discharge on patient outcome.

Design: Multiple-center, retrospective observational cohort study.

Setting: Canadian hospitals.