A capaciflector provides continuous and accurate respiratory rate monitoring for patients at rest and during exercise.

Respiratory rate (RR) is a marker of critical illness, but during hospital care, RR is often inaccurately measured. The capaciflector is a novel sensor that is small, inexpensive, and flexible, thus it has the potential to provide a single-use, real-time RR monitoring device. We evaluated the accuracy of continuous RR measurements by capaciflector hardware both at rest and during exercise.

Fatal Case of Perforated Cytomegalovirus Colitis: Case Report and Systematic Review.

We describe a patient with history of heart transplant on maintenance immunosuppression who presented with sigmoid colon perforation from cytomegalovirus (CMV) colitis and performed a systematic review of outcomes after perforated CMV colitis. Cytomegalovirus enterocolitis is uncommon among solid organ transplant patients and can result in small or large bowel perforation. We systematically reviewed articles describing patients with CMV enterocolitis with small or large bowel perforations from PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science from database inception to February 2021.

Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on the recovery of people with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit: A narrative review.

The rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19 after prolonged treatment in the intensive care unit is often complex and challenging. Patients may develop a myriad of long-term multiorgan impairments, affecting the respiratory, cardiac, neurological, digestive and musculoskeletal systems. Skeletal muscle dysfunction of respiratory and limb muscles, commonly referred to as intensive care unit acquired weakness, occurs in approximately 40% of all patients admitted to intensive care.

Endotracheal tube damage during surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion surgery; a case report.

Endotracheal tube damage is a well-known complication of maxillary surgery. We report a case of failure to ventilate due to superficial damage to the tubing between the cuff and pilot balloon in the nasal portion of a north facing Ring, Adair and Elwyn pre-formed endotracheal tube during Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion surgery. The endotracheal tube was replaced uneventfully and surgery completed successfully.

Family Care Rituals in the ICU to Reduce Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Family Members-A Multicenter, Multinational, Before-and-After Intervention Trial.

Objectives: To assess the feasibility and efficacy of implementing "Family Care Rituals" as a means of engaging family members in the care of patients admitted to the ICU with a high risk of ICU mortality on outcomes including stress-related symptoms in family members.

Design: Prospective, before-and-after intervention evaluation.

Setting: Two U.

Electrical stimulation devices for the prevention of venous thromboembolism: Preliminary studies of physiological efficacy and user satisfaction.

Introduction: Electrical stimulation could provide an alternative method for preventing venous thromboembolism in stroke patients. The purpose of this preliminary study was to explore the effects of electrical stimulation and intermittent pneumatic compression on enhancing lower limb venous return in healthy and chronic stroke patients and also to evaluate patient and nurse satisfaction.

Methods: We investigated the effectiveness of two electrical stimulation devices: Geko (Firstkind Ltd, High Wycombe, UK) and Orthopaedic Microstim 2V2 (Odstock Medical Ltd, Salisbury, UK); and one intermittent pneumatic compression device: Huntleigh Flowstron Universal (Huntleigh Healthcare Ltd, Cardiff, UK).

Long peripheral catheters for deep arm vein venous access: A systematic review of complications.

Purpose: Long peripheral catheters (LPCs) offer a quick, simple and cost-effective alternative for venous access in intensive care patients with difficult venous access, but the decision to use them must be balanced against an assessment of harm. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesise reports of complications associated with LPCs.

Methods: The electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL were searched systematically for randomised controlled trials, cohort studies and case control studies published in the period 1966 to 24th July 2018 reporting LPC associated occlusion, catheter related blood stream infections, phlebitis and infiltration.

The safety of electrical stimulation in patients with pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators: A systematic review.

Introduction: A number of patients are excluded from electrical stimulation treatment because there is concern that electrical stimulation could cause electromagnetic interference with pacemakers and implanted cardioverter defibrillators. The decision to use electrical stimulation in these patients needs to be supported by an assessment of benefit and harm.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the risk of electromagnetic interference between electrical stimulation and pacemakers or implanted cardioverter defibrillators.

To Continue or to Withhold Opioid Analgesics? An Ethical Dilemma Involving a 63-year-old Cancer Patient Who 'Broke the Pain Contract'.

[Full article available at http://rimed.org/rimedicaljournal-2017-10.asp].

Reevaluation of the critical-care pain observation tool in intubated adults after cardiac surgery.

Background: Pain assessment in critically ill patients who are intubated, sedated, and unable to verbalize their needs remains a challenge. No universally accepted pain assessment tool is used in all intensive care units.

Objectives: To examine concurrent validation of scores on the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool for a painful and a non-painful procedure and to examine interrater reliability of the scores between 2 nurse raters.

The hospitalized prisoner with a life-threatening illness: criminal first and patient second?

It is generally accepted that the Patient's Bill of Rights applies to all patients including prisoners. Yet, a prisoners' incarcerated status generally prohibits inmates from making any decision that may shorten his/her life, and as such, the de facto medical decision maker becomes the medical director of the state correctional facility. This case study highlights the challenges that arise when the ethically appropriate response to a hospitalized prisoner's terminal medical condition warrants decisions that are in conflict with that advocated by the correctional facility.

Conflicting voices: Withhold treatment or not for a patient with chronic self-destructive behavior?

Patients with a history of chronic self-destructive and self-injurious behavior present many difficulties to healthcare providers. These patients often have related substance abuse and personality disorders that complicate their medical care. Treatment encounters initially may be related to medical treatment of episodic substance intoxicated states with or without self-inflicted injuries.

Respecting patient autonomy versus protecting the patient's health: a dilemma for healthcare providers.

A 74-year-old man with multiple chronic medical problems was hospitalized for respiratory distress. He experienced recurrent aspiration and required frequent suctioning and endotracheal intubation on several occasions. The patient was deemed competent and steadfastly refused feeding tube placement.

Critical Care Nurse Intern program: addressing psychological reactions related to critical care nursing.

Rhode Island Hospital Critical Care Nurse Internship program prepares recent graduates to work in critical care specialty units. Despite best efforts to prepare nurse interns for immersion into the critical care arena, significant clinical challenges await, and it is unknown how individual nurse interns will react under stressful clinical encounters. With this concern in mind, it was decided to add a new lecture to the critical care curriculum to address psychological reactions related to critical care nursing.

Moral discord, cognitive coping strategies, and medical intensive care unit nurses: insights from a focus group study.

Moral discord occurs when contextual factors prevent nurses from implementing felt moral mandates. Medical intensive care unit (MICU) nurses frequently confront moral issues and hold themselves personally responsible for their moral actions. They use a variety of cognitive coping strategies to deal with moral discord.

Factors that enable or complicate end-of-life transitions in critical care.

Background: Nurses in medical intensive care units are routinely involved in negotiations to maintain or withdraw life support. How nurses move from aggressively attempting to extend life to letting life end is not well understood.

Objective: To explore nurses' experiences of moving from cure- to comfort-oriented care and to describe factors that inhibit or facilitate such transitions.

A descriptive study of coping strategies used by Medical Intensive Care Unit nurses during transitions from cure- to comfort-oriented care.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) nurses' coping behaviors while caring for a patient whose medical treatment transitioned from cure- to comfort-oriented care.

Methods: The use of a descriptive qualitative research design with brief selective participant observation and focus group interviews was used to explore the coping experiences of MICU nurses. The study took place in an 18-bed MICU that was part of a 719-bed acute care hospital located in the northeastern United States.