Epidemiology and microbiology of severe community-acquired pneumonia in Central Australia: a retrospective study.

Background: Severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) has high mortality and morbidity.

Aims: To describe the epidemiology and microbiology of SCAP in Central Australia.

Methods: A retrospective epidemiological study describing the characteristics, incidence rates (IR) and microbiological aetiology of SCAP in Central Australia.

A critical care pandemic staffing framework in Australia.

Background: Pandemics and the large-scale outbreak of infectious disease can significantly impact morbidity and mortality worldwide. The impact on intensive care resources can be significant and often require modification of service delivery, a key element which includes rapid expansion of the critical care workforce. Pandemics are also unpredictable, which necessitates rapid decision-making and action which, in the lack of experience and guidance, may be extremely challenging.

Clinical management practices of life-threatening asthma: an audit of practices in intensive care.

Objective: Lack of management guidelines for lifethreatening asthma (LTA) risks practice variation. This study aims to elucidate management practices of LTA in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Long-term morbidity and mortality in survivors of critical illness: a 5-year observational follow-up study.

Introduction: This prospective observational study over 5 years aimed to quantify long-term morbidity and mortality in a prospectively recruited cohort of Central Australian survivors of critical illness.

Methods: Eligible participants are survivors of an intensive care unit (ICU) admission for a critical illness at the Alice Springs Hospital (ASH), prospectively recruited during 2009. The ASH ICU is a 10-bed unit located in Central Australia with approximately 600 admissions annually, 95% of which are emergent, and 65% Indigenous.

The Alice Springs Hospital Readmission Prevention Project (ASHRAPP): a randomised control trial.

Background: Hospitals are frequently faced with high levels of emergency department presentations and demand for inpatient care. An important contributing factor is the subset of patients with complex chronic diseases who have frequent and preventable exacerbations of their chronic diseases. Evidence suggests that some of these hospital readmissions can be prevented with appropriate transitional care.

The burden of invasive infections in critically ill Indigenous children in Australia.

Objectives: To describe the incidence and mortality of invasive infections in Indigenous children admitted to paediatric and general intensive care units (ICUs) in Australia.

Design: Retrospective multi-centre cohort study of Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Intensive Care Registry data.

Participants: All children under 16 years of age admitted to an ICU in Australia, 1 January 2002 - 31 December 2013.

Early surgical intervention in severe acute pancreatitis: Central Australian experience.

Background: Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is a disease associated with a high mortality and morbidity; however, many patients survive due to better understanding of the disease and multidisciplinary care. Those who do not respond to intensive care management with persistent multi-organ dysfunction still have a high mortality. There is a role for early surgical intervention in two subsets of critically ill patients: the first, with acute compartment syndrome (ACS) of the abdomen with persisting organ dysfunction despite medical measures to control intra-abdominal pressure; the second, being early infected pancreatic necrosis (IPN) with the presence of gas in the retroperitoneum.

Effects of OSA, inhalational anesthesia, and fentanyl on the airway and ventilation of children.

To assess effects of anesthesia and opioids, we studied 13 children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA, age 4.0 +/- 2.2 yr, mean +/- SD) and 24 age-matched control subjects (5.