A systematic review of short courses for nonspecialist education in intensive care.

Purpose: The availability of reliable and accessible educational material for the training of nonspecialist intensive care physicians is potentially advantageous. We assessed the availability, cost, and content of generic short courses designed to teach basic critical care skills to junior physicians or nonspecialist intensive care physicians taking up duties in intensive care units.

Materials And Methods: A PubMed and Internet searches were conducted to identify and compare short courses that provide a curriculum similar to that proposed by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists for resident training purposes.

The incidence of deep venous thrombosis in Chinese medical Intensive Care Unit patients.

Objective: To evaluate the incidence of deep venous thrombosis in critically ill, Intensive Care Unit patients of Chinese ethnicity.

Design: Prospective, observational study.

Setting: Intensive Care Unit in a Hong Kong teaching hospital.

Characteristics, management process, and outcome of patients suffering in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrests in a teaching hospital in Hong Kong.

Objectives: To examine the demographics, process indicators of adult in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest resuscitation, and outcomes in a teaching hospital in Hong Kong.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: A university-affiliated tertiary referral hospital with 997 acute adult beds in Hong Kong.

Sputum bacteriology in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD in Hong Kong.

Study Objective: To study the demographics and sputum microbiology of patients admitted to a teaching hospital with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD).

Design: A retrospective study.

Setting: A tertiary university hospital in Hong Kong.

Prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing and continuous positive airway pressure compliance: results in chinese patients with first-ever ischemic stroke.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) acceptance, and CPAP compliance in patients who have experienced ischemic stroke.

Design: A case-controlled study.

Setting: A university hospital.

Prevalence of sleep disturbances in Chinese patients with end stage renal failure on maintenance hemodialysis.

Background: Sleep disorders, such as daytime sleepiness, insomnia, restless legs syndrome (RLS) and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) have been reported as prevalent among patients with end stage renal failure(ESRF).

Material/methods: As there is little published data from Southeast Asia, a sleep questionnaire was administered to all patients (N=43, 27 males) on chronic hemodialysis (HD) at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, to assess their sleep complaints.

Results: The mean age was 49.

Severe obstructive sleep apnea is associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction.

Introduction: Hypertension is common in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, the effect of OSA on ventricular function, especially diastolic function, is not clear. Therefore, we have assessed the prevalence of diastolic dysfunction in patients with OSA and the relationship between diastolic parameters and severity of OSA.