Evaluation of the physiological benefits of a passive back-support exoskeleton during lifting and working in forward leaning postures.

Musculoskeletal disorders affecting the back are highly prevalent in fields of occupation involving repetitive lifting and working in forward leaning postures. Back-support exoskeletons are developed to relieve workers in physically demanding occupations. This study investigates the physiological effects of a lightweight exoskeleton which provides support through textile springs worn on the back.

Development and validation of a multivariable risk score for prolonged length of stay in the surgical intensive care unit.

Background: Chronically critical illness is highly relevant in intensive care units, but the definitions in literature vary greatly. The timely detection of prolonged intensive care unit length of stay could support care planning for chronically critical ill patients.

Aim: To develop and validate a risk score for predicting prolonged length of stay in the surgical intensive care unit.

Does interprofessionality work in Swiss ICUs and should it be encouraged?

A charter for the collaboration of healthcare specialists has recently been proposed by the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, to promote interprofessionality in daily clinical practice. This article reviews several aspects of this concept, from definition and basic principles to the potential benefit for the patients and caregivers, and it discusses the difficulties in implementing interprofessional teamwork in the daily practice of an intensive care unit (ICU). Although collaborative and interprofessional teamwork seems a logical approach in the care of critically ill patients, little published evidence shows that it really improves the level of care, meaning that this may be harder to implement than to promote.

[A portfolio for the development of a Surgical Intensive Care Unit into an internationally recognized reference center].

This article describes the development and content of the portfolio of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. The first step was to evaluate clinical practice using a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis; development and trends within surgical intensive care were analyzed with a literature search. From these results, three areas were identified as essential for the development of practice: (1) best practice/best care, (2) research, and (3) development into a reference center.