Objective: The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of introducing a critical care outreach service on in-hospital mortality and length of stay in a general acute hospital.
Design: A pragmatic ward-randomised trial design was used, with intervention introduced to all wards in sequence. No blinding was possible.
Setting: Sixteen adult wards in an 800-bed general hospital in the north of England.
Patients And Participants: All admissions to the 16 surgical, medical and elderly care wards during 32-week study period were included (7450 patients in total, of whom 2903 were eligible for the primary comparison).
Interventions: Essential elements of the Critical Care Outreach service introduced during the study were a nurse-led team of nurses and doctors experienced in critical care, a 24-h service, emphasis on education, support and practical help for ward staff.
Measurements And Results: The main outcome measures were in-hospital mortality and length of stay. Outreach intervention reduced in-hospital mortality compared with control (two-level odds ratio: 0.52 (95% CI 0.32-0.85). A possible increased length of stay associated with outreach was not fully supported by confirmatory and sensitivity analyses.
Conclusions: The study suggests outreach reduces mortality in general hospital wards. It may also increase length of stay, but our findings on this are equivocal.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00134-004-2268-7 | DOI Listing |
Drugs Aging
January 2025
Program for the Care and Study of the Aging Heart, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, 420 East 70th St, New York, NY, LH-36510063, USA.
There are several pharmacologic agents that have been touted as guideline-directed medical therapy for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). However, it is important to recognize that older adults with HFpEF also contend with an increased risk for adverse effects from medications due to age-related changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of medications, as well as the concurrence of geriatric conditions such as polypharmacy and frailty. With this review, we discuss the underlying evidence for the benefits of various treatments in HFpEF and incorporate key considerations for older adults, a subpopulation that may be at higher risk for adverse drug events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntensive Care Med Exp
January 2025
Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany.
Purpose: CytoSorb® (CS) adsorbent is a hemoadsorption filter for extracorporeal blood purification often integrated into continuous kidney replacement therapy (CKRT). It is primarily used in critically ill patients with sepsis and related conditions, including cytokine storms and systemic inflammatory responses. Up to now, there is no evidence nor recommendation for the use of CS filters in sepsis (22).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSleep Breath
January 2025
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, No.1 Da Hua Road, Dong Dan, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100730, PR China.
Purpose: To investigate the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) severity and fat, bone, and muscle indices.
Methods: This study included 102 patients with OSAHS and retrospectively reviewed their physical examination data. All patients underwent polysomnography, body composition analysis, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, computed tomography (CT) and blood test.
Langenbecks Arch Surg
January 2025
Department of Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, Rämistrasse 100, CH - 8091, Zurich, Switzerland.
Introduction: Blunt traumatic aortic injury (TAI) is a critical condition and a leading cause of mortality in trauma patients, often resulting from high-speed accidents. Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) has developed into the preferred therapeutic approach due to its minimally invasive nature and promising outcomes. This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of TEVAR for managing TAI over a 10-year period at a Level-1 trauma center.
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