Clinical practice guidelines for evidence-based management of sedoanalgesia in critically ill adult patients.

Introduction: Optimal management of sedation, analgesia and delirium offers comfort and security for the critical care patient, allows support measures to be applied more easily and enables an integral approach of medical care, at the same time that lowers the incidence of complications, wich translates in better patient outcomes.

Objective: To update the Guía de práctica clínica basada en la evidencia para el manejo de la sedoanalgesia en el paciente adulto críticamente enfermo published in Medicina Intensiva in 2007, and give recommendations for the management of sedation, analgesia, and delirium.

Methodology: A group of 21 intensivists from 9 countries of the Federación Panamericana e Ibérica de Sociedades de Medicina Crítica y Terapia Intensiva, 3 of them also specialists in clinical epidemiology and methodology, gathered for the development of guidelines.

Critical care in Colombia: differences between teaching and nonteaching intensive care units. A prospective cohort observational study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the differences in the efficacy and efficiency in providing critical care to hospitalized patients in teaching vs nonteaching intensive care units (ICUs) in Colombia.

Methods: A prospective cohort observational study was conducted.

Location: This study was conducted in 11 teaching and 8 nonteaching ICUs.

Critical care in Latin America: current situation.

Critical care has grown significantly in Latin America. This grow this caused by the increase in the number of patients requiring this specialized care for whom excellent outcomes are achieved with the indisputable development of critical care. There is an increasing interest for the application of systems ensuring quality medical care, a reason why some countries have decided to make critical care part of their legislation.

Post-pH effect in oral streptococci.

Objectives: To study the post-pH effect (PpHE) in 11 strains of oral streptococci belonging to Streptococcus sanguis, S. mitis, S. gordonii, S.