Doctors' experiences of referring and admitting patients to the intensive care unit: a qualitative study of doctors' practices at two tertiary hospitals in Malawi.

Objective: To explore doctors' experiences of referring and admitting patients to the intensive care unit (ICU) at two tertiary hospitals in Malawi.

Design: This was a qualitative study that used face-to-face interviews. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim into English.

Towards definitions of critical illness and critical care using concept analysis.

Objective: As 'critical illness' and 'critical care' lack consensus definitions, this study aimed to explore how the concepts' are used, describe their defining attributes, and propose potential definitions.

Design And Methods: We used the Walker and Avant approach to concept analysis. The uses and definitions of the concepts were identified through a scoping review of the literature and an online survey of 114 global clinical experts.

Factors associated with in-hospital mortality of patients admitted to an intensive care unit in a tertiary hospital in Malawi.

Objective: To determine factors associated with in-hospital death among patients admitted to ICU and to evaluate the predictive values of single severely deranged vital signs and several severity scoring systems.

Methods: A combined retrospective and prospective cohort study of patients admitted to the adult ICU in a tertiary hospital in Malawi was conducted between January 2017 and July 2019. Predefined potential risk factors for in-hospital death were studied with univariable and multivariable logistic regression models, and the performance of severity scores was assessed.

Unmet need of essential treatments for critical illness in Malawi.

Background: Critical illness is common throughout the world and has been the focus of a dramatic increase in attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Severely deranged vital signs such as hypoxia, hypotension and low conscious level can identify critical illness. These vital signs are simple to check and treatments that aim to correct derangements are established, basic and low-cost.

The use of antibiotics in the intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital in Malawi.

Background: Antibiotic resistance is on the rise. A contributing factor to antibiotic resistance is the misuse of antibiotics in hospitals. The current use of antibiotics in ICUs in Malawi is not well documented and there are no national guidelines for the use of antibiotics in ICUs.

Emergency and critical care services in Malawi: Findings from a nationwide survey of health facilities.

Background: Globally, critical illness causes up to 45 million deaths every year. The burden is highest in low-income countries such as Malawi. Critically ill patients require good quality, essential care in emergency departments and in hospital wards to avoid negative outcomes such as death.

The Prevalence and Outcomes of Sepsis in Adult Patients in Two Hospitals in Malawi.

There are an estimated 19.4 million sepsis cases every year, many of them in low-income countries. The newly adopted definition of sepsis uses Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score (SOFA), a score which is not feasible in many low-resource settings.

Inability to Walk Predicts Death among Adult Patients in Hospitals in Malawi.

Objective: Vital signs are often used in triage, but some may be difficult to assess in low-resource settings. A patient's ability to walk is a simple and rapid sign that requires no equipment or expertise. This study aimed to determine the predictive performance for death of an inability to walk among hospitalized Malawian adults and to compare its predictive value with the vital signs-based National Early Warning Score (NEWS).