Adjudication of Codes for Identifying Sepsis in Hospital Administrative Data by Expert Consensus.

Objectives: Refine the administrative data definition of sepsis in hospitalized patients, including less severe cases.

Design And Setting: For each of 1928 infection and 108 organ dysfunction codes used in Canadian hospital abstracts, experts reached consensus on the likelihood that it could relate to sepsis. We developed a new algorithm, called AlgorithmL, that requires at least one infection and one organ dysfunction code adjudicated as likely or very likely to be related to sepsis.

The use of vasopressors to reduce post-intubation hypotension in critically ill adult patients undergoing emergent endotracheal intubation: a scoping review.

Introduction: Patients requiring emergent endotracheal intubation are at higher risk of post-intubation hypotension due to altered physiology in critical illness. Post-intubation hypotension increases mortality and hospital length of stay, however, the impact of vasopressors on its incidence and outcomes is not known. This scoping review identified studies reporting hemodynamic data in patients undergoing emergent intubation to provide a literature overview on post-intubation hypotension in cohorts that did and did not receive vasopressors.

Frailty, Outcomes, Recovery and Care Steps of Critically Ill Patients (FORECAST): a prospective, multi-centre, cohort study.

Purpose: Frailty is common in critically ill patients but the timing and optimal method of frailty ascertainment, trajectory and relationship with care processes remain uncertain. We sought to elucidate the trajectory and care processes of frailty in critically ill patients as measured by the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and Frailty Index (FI).

Methods: This is a multi-centre prospective cohort study enrolling patients ≥ 50 years old receiving life support > 24 h.

Interfacility transfer of the critically ill: Transfer status does not influence survival.

Purpose: To estimate differences in case-mix adjusted hospital mortality between adult ICU patients who are transferred during their ICU-stay and those who are not.

Methods: 19,260 visits to 12 ICUs in Nova Scotia (NS), Canada April 2018-September 2023 were analyzed. Data were obtained from the NS Provincial ICU database.

Sepsis policy, guidelines and standards in Canada: a jurisdictional scoping review protocol.

Introduction: To our knowledge, this study is the first to identify and describe current sepsis policies, clinical practice guidelines, and health professional training standards in Canada to inform evidence-based policy recommendations.

Methods And Analysis: This study will be designed and reported according to the Arksey and O'Malley framework for scoping reviews and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews. EMBASE, CINAHL, Medline, Turning Research Into Practice and Policy Commons will be searched for policies, clinical practice guidelines and health professional training standards published or updated in 2010 onwards, and related to the identification, management or reporting of sepsis in Canada.

Needs and expectations for artificial intelligence in emergency medicine according to Canadian physicians.

Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is recognized by emergency physicians (EPs) as an important technology that will affect clinical practice. Several AI-tools have already been developed to aid care delivery in emergency medicine (EM). However, many EM tools appear to have been developed without a cross-disciplinary needs assessment, making it difficult to understand their broader importance to general-practice.

Opioid and Sedative Coprescription: Prescribing Patterns after an ICU Admission.

Background: Opioid misuse constitutes a health care crisis in Canada, and coprescription of opioids with sedatives has been associated with adverse events. Opioids and sedatives are frequently administered in the intensive care unit (ICU). The rate of continuation of opioid-sedative combinations after an ICU admission at the study institution was unknown.

Health economic evaluation alongside the Probiotics to Prevent Severe Pneumonia and Endotracheal Colonization Trial (E-PROSPECT): a cost-effectiveness analysis.

Purpose: We sought to compare the cost-effectiveness of probiotics and usual care with usual care without probiotics in mechanically ventilated, intensive care unit patients alongside the Probiotics to Prevent Severe Pneumonia and Endotracheal Colonization Trial (PROSPECT).

Methods: We conducted a health economic evaluation alongside the PROSPECT randomized control trial (October 2013-March 2019). We adopted a public healthcare payer's perspective.

Protocol for a scoping review of sepsis epidemiology.

Introduction: Sepsis is a common, life-threatening syndrome of physiologic, pathologic, and biochemical abnormalities that are caused by infection and propagated by a dysregulated immune response. In 2017, the estimated annual incidence of sepsis around the world was 508 cases per 100,000 (95% confidence interval [CI], 422-612 cases per 100,000), however, reported incidence rates vary significantly by country. A scoping review will identify knowledge gaps by systematically investigating the incidence of sepsis.

N-Acetylcysteine treatment of neonatal acetaminophen toxicity caused by transplacental transfer - a case report.

We describe a case of maternal acetaminophen toxicity leading to Caesarean section delivery of a pre-term neonate with acetaminophen-induced hepatic injury and encephalopathy at 33 weeks gestational age. Delayed treatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) was initiated in the baby 11 h after delivery, with eventual discharge of a healthy baby at 12 days of age. The baby was treated with a standard but extended duration NAC protocol.

Successful Use of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Therapy in Patients With 80% Full Thickness Burns.

Despite advances in burn care, mortality in adult patients with extensive burn injuries remains a concern, particularly in those who develop concurrent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In cases of ARDS refractory to conventional treatments, venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) may represent a viable salvage therapy, even in the major burn population. We present the case of a 38-year-old man with full thickness burns to over 80% of his body, who developed severe ARDS 4 days postburn.

Bowel Puncture During Insertion of a Femoral Central Line in the Emergency Department.

BACKGROUND Central venous catheter (CVC) insertion is commonly performed in the emergency department. The femoral vein is often chosen for insertion of CVCs due to its lower risk for complication. We present a rare complication of bowel puncture during insertion of a femoral CVC in the emergency department in a 46-year-old female.

Does apneic oxygenation prevent desaturation during emergency airway management? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Unlabelled: RéSUMé: OBJECTIF: L'oxygénation apnéique (OA) par lunettes nasales est une méthode de prévention de la désaturation en oxygène au cours des intubations en urgence. L'objectif de cette revue systématique était de déterminer l'efficacité de l'OA sur la prévention de la désaturation en oxygène au cours des intubations en urgence.

Source: Des recherches systématiques ont été effectuées dans trois bases de données électroniques (MEDLINE, EMBASE et CINAHL) pour identifier les études portant sur la prévention de la désaturation en oxygène au moyen de l'OA par lunettes nasales.

A systematic review of extravasation and local tissue injury from administration of vasopressors through peripheral intravenous catheters and central venous catheters.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to collect and describe all published reports of local tissue injury or extravasation from vasopressor administration via either peripheral intravenous (IV) or central venous catheter.

Methods: A systematic search of Medline, Embase, and Cochrane databases was performed from inception through January 2014 for reports of adults who received vasopressor intravenously via peripheral IV or central venous catheter for a therapeutic purpose. We included primary studies or case reports of vasopressor administration that resulted in local tissue injury or extravasation of vasopressor solution.

My patient has got abdominal pain: identifying biliary problems.

Right upper quadrant and epigastric abdominal pain are common presenting complaints in the emergency department. With increasing access to point-of-care ultrasound, emergency physicians now have an added tool to help identify biliary problems as a cause of a patient's right upper quadrant pain. Point-of-care ultrasound has a sensitivity of 89.

Circuits for grasping: spinal dI3 interneurons mediate cutaneous control of motor behavior.

Accurate motor performance depends on the integration in spinal microcircuits of sensory feedback information. Hand grasp is a skilled motor behavior known to require cutaneous sensory feedback, but spinal microcircuits that process and relay this feedback to the motor system have not been defined. We sought to define classes of spinal interneurons involved in the cutaneous control of hand grasp in mice and to show that dI3 interneurons, a class of dorsal spinal interneurons marked by the expression of Isl1, convey input from low threshold cutaneous afferents to motoneurons.

The V-line: a sonographic aid for the confirmation of pleural fluid.

Background: Ultrasound is being used increasingly to diagnose pathological free fluid accumulation at the bedside. In addition to the detection of peritoneal and pericardial fluid, point-of-care ultrasound allows rapid bedside diagnosis of pleural fluid.

Findings: In this short report, we describe the sonographic observation of the vertebral or 'V-line' to help confirm the presence of pleural fluid in the supine patient.

Local cutaneous necrosis secondary to a prolonged peripheral infusion of methylene blue in vasodilatory shock.

Objective: To report a case of methylene blue extravasation and subsequent tissue necrosis in a patient with refractory septic shock.

Case Summary: A 47-year-old female presented with febrile neutropenia secondary to chemotherapy. The patient quickly decompensated to refractory septic shock in the critical care unit despite implementation of early goal-directed therapy as well as intravenous norepinephrine and vasopressin to stabilize her hemodynamic status.