Designing and conducting a cluster-randomized trial of ICU admission for the elderly patients: the ICE-CUB 2 study.

Background: The benefit of ICU admission for elderly patients remains controversial. This report highlights the methodology, the feasibility of and the ethical and logistical constraints in designing and conducting a cluster-randomized trial of intensive care unit (ICU) admission for critically ill elderly patients.

Methods: We designed an interventional open-label cluster-randomized controlled trial in 24 centres in France.

Variability of intensive care admission decisions for the very elderly.

Unlabelled: Although increasing numbers of very elderly patients are requiring intensive care, few large sample studies have investigated ICU admission of very elderly patients. Data on pre triage by physicians from other specialities is limited. This observational cohort study aims at examining inter-hospital variability of ICU admission rates and its association with patients' outcomes.

Health network to improve elderly patients' flow in emergency department.

Background: The French population has been growing older these past decades. The French Regional Health Organization System authorizes the creation of health networks in order to improve healthcare. We have developed since 2002 in our Tertiary Hospital Cochin, a health network inside Paris and its suburbs for the elderly to improve their flow from the emergency department.