Safe practices in Intensive Care Medicine, is zero risk possible?

Incidents related to patient safety are a problem of great impact in Intensive Care Medicine (ICM). Multiple strategies have been developed to identify them, analyze, and develop policies aim at reducing their incidence and minimizing their effects and consequences. The development of a safety culture, an adequate organizational and structural design of the ICM, which contemplates the implementation of effective safe practices, with a provision of human resources adjusted to the care activity carried out and the periodic analysis of the different events and their factors, will allow us to bring the risk of critical patient care closer to zero, as would be desirable.

Antifungal prophylaxis with nebulized amphotericin-B in solid-organ transplant recipients with severe COVID-19: a retrospective observational study.

COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) has emerged as a frequent complication in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, little is known about this life-threatening fungal superinfection in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs), including whether targeted anti-mold prophylaxis might be justified in this immunosuppressed population. We performed a multicentric observational retrospective study of all consecutive ICU-admitted COVID-19 SOTRs between August 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021.

[Update of the recommendations of the Pneumonia Zero project].

The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has had a negative impact on the implementation of the Zero Pneumonia recommendations and has been accompanied by an increase in rates of ventilator- associated pneumonia (VAP) in intensive care units in Spain. With the aim of reducing the current rates to 7 episodes per 1000 days of MV, the recommendations of the initial project have been updated.Twenty-seven measures were identified and classified into 12 functional measures (semi- sitting position, strict hand hygiene, airway manipulation training, daily assessment of possible extubation, protocolisation of weaning, early tracheostomy, non-invasive ventilation, microbiological surveillance, tubing change, humidification, respiratory physiotherapy, post- pyloric enteral nutrition), 7 mechanical measures (pneumotap pressure control, subglottic suction tubes, subglottic suctioning of tubes, subglottic suctioning of tubes, post-pyloric enteral nutrition, subglottic suction tubes, small-bore/small-bowel tube nutrition, closed/open circuit secretion suctioning, respiratory filters, tooth brushing, negative pressure techniques for secretion suctioning) and 8 pharmacological (selective digestive decontamination, oropharyngeal decontamination, short course of antibiotics, chlorhexidine mouth hygiene, inhaled antibiotics, antibiotic rotation, probiotics, monoclonal antibodies).