Pharmacotherapy adjuncts for traumatic brain injury: A narrative review of evidence and considerations in the emergency department.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) remains a significant global health concern with significant impact on morbidity and mortality. This narrative review explores adjunctive pharmacologic agents to be employed by emergency medicine clinicians during Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) in patients presenting with a TBI. Pharmacologic agents are commonly employed for the management of rapid sequence intubation and post-intubation analgosedation, hemodynamics, intracranial pressure, coagulopathy, seizure prophylaxis, and infection.

Fixed dose daptomycin: An opportunity for pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic optimization in Staphylococcus aureus infections.

Background: Daptomycin is a high-use intravenous antimicrobial agent affording the convenience of once-daily dosing. Prior studies suggest an opportunity to use a more operationally convenient fixed rather than weight-based dosing but this approach has not been studied prospectively.

Methods: This study quantified the probability of toxicity and efficacy end points by prospectively testing a fixed dose regimen of daptomycin (750 mg) in obese and non-obese adults.

Antibiotics for Patients With a Planned Re-Laparotomy for Intra-Abdominal Infection.

Appropriate antimicrobial therapy for the management of intra-abdominal infection (IAI) continues to evolve based on available literature. The Study to Optimize Peritoneal Infection Therapy (STOP-IT) trial provided evidence to support four days of antibiotic agents in IAI post-source control but excluded patients with a planned re-laparotomy. This study aimed to determine the short- and long-term recurrent infection risk in this population.

Optimal strategies for assessing and managing pain, agitation, and delirium in the critically ill surgical patient: What you need to know.

Pain, agitation, and delirium (PAD) are primary drivers of outcome in the ICU, and expertise in managing these entities successfully is crucial to the intensivist's toolbox. In addition, there are unique aspects of surgical patients that impact assessment and management of PAD. In this review, we address the continuous spectrum of assessment, and management of critically ill surgical patients, with a focus on limiting PAD, particularly incorporating mobility as an anchor to ICU liberation.