Guidelines on critical care services and personnel: Recommendations based on a system of categorization of three levels of care.

Objectives: To describe three levels of hospital-based critical care centers to optimally match services and personnel with community needs, and to recommend essential intensive care unit services and personnel for each critical care level.

Participants: A multidisciplinary writing panel of professionals with expertise in the clinical practice of critical care medicine working under the direction of the American College of Critical Care Medicine (ACCM).

Data Sources And Synthesis: Relevant medical literature was accessed through a systematic Medline search and synthesized by the ACCM writing panel, a multidisciplinary group of critical care experts.

A model for technology assessment as applied to closed loop infusion systems. Technology Assessment Task Force of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Objectives: To test a model for the assessment of critical care technology on closed loop infusion control, a technology that is in its early stages of development and testing on human subjects.

Data Sources: A computer-assisted search of the English language literature and reviews of the gathered data by experts in the field of closed loop infusion control systems.

Study Selection: Studies relating to closed loop infusion control that addressed one or more of the questions contained in our technology assessment template were analyzed.

Regionalization of critical care medicine: task force report of the American College of Critical Care Medicine.

Objectives: To review the existing literature and task force opinions on regionalization of critical care services, and to synthesize a judgement on possible costs, benefits, disadvantages, and strategies.

Data Sources: Pertinent literature in the English language.

Study Selection: One hundred forty-six English language papers were studied to determine possible ramifications of regionalization of critical care or other similar services.

MRI protocol for critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND Ventilators compatible with magnetic resonance imaging machines are not universally available. However, the lack of such equipment should not preclude magnetic resonance imaging. We have developed a method by which a critically ill patient requiring mechanical ventilation can safely undergo such imaging without compatible equipment.

Outcome of insulin-treated diabetics receiving epinephrine during cardiac arrest.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of epinephrine in insulin-treated diabetics (DM) compared with nondiabetic (ND) controls during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). A retrospective analysis from a multicenter study of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest included 62 DM and 1,151 ND. Outcome parameters included return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), blood pressure (BP), emergency department admissions (EDA), hospital admissions (HA), and hospital discharge (DC).