View clinical trials related to Critical Care.
Filter by:Transfusional practices evolved significantly over the last decades, but there are still important controversies regarding triggers that should be adopted in different clinical scenarios. Most international guidelines recommend using a hemoglobin (Hb) level around 7,0-8,0g/dL as the value to prompt a transfusion of red blood cell concentrates (RBC). Critical care patients usually are in a hyperdynamic state, working with an elevated cardiac output and compromised organ function. In these patients, the dependency on the arterial content of oxygen is greater, making lower Hb levels more associated with organ disfunction and compromised homeostasis. With this study the investigators hope to help clinicians to make decisions regarding transfusion of RBCs in critical surgical patients, establishing a transfusional trigger, without exposing patients to unnecessary additional risks, in the scenario involving patients with cancer, in post-operative care. This is a prospective, randomized, controlled, interventional trial, with the aim of evaluating the impact of restrictive versus liberal transfusional strategy on mortality and severe clinical complications in post-operative oncologic critically ill patients. The primary outcome is mortality in 30 days. The interventions consist in transfusion of RBCs according to the allocation to a liberal or restrictive transfusional strategy. In the restrictive strategy arm patients will receive transfusion of RBCs if the Hb falls to a level equal to or below 7,0g/dL. In the liberal strategy arm patients will receive transfusions if Hb level is below or equal to 9,0g/dL. In both arms patients should receive only one unit of RBC per time, with measurement of Hb level after three hours to evaluate the need for additional units. The strategy should be maintained during intensive care unit (ICU) stay for a maximum of 90 days. In case of a permanence in the ICU for a period longer than 90 days, or if the patient is discharged from the ICU, the transfusional support will be determined by the assisting physicians, independently of the allocated study arm. If the patient returns to the ICU during the 90 days of randomization, then he should go back to receiving transfusions according to the liberal or restrictive strategy in use previously in the ICU.
Post-intensive care syndrome is an entity of cognitive, physical and mental health disorders occurring and persisting after ICU discharge and responsible of disabilities and decrease of quality of life. Nowadays mental and cognitive health impairments appear to be well known but few data are available about chronic pain after a critical care illness. The aim of the study is to determine the incidence and the risks factors of chronic pain after ICU.
AIM: To advance the development and accuracy of the Lifelight® app for the measurement of vital signs, therefore developing a non-invasive and easy-to-perform means of measuring vital signs which can be implemented across a wide range of settings, both within hospitals and out in the community. METHOD: Lifelight® is a computer program ("app") for measuring vital signs which can be used on smart devices that contain a camera. It is able to measure all of the vital signs by measuring very small changes in skin colour that occur each time the heart beats. This means that it does not need to touch the patient. The investigators believe this could be an effective way of measuring vital signs, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when prevention of cross-contamination between patients is essential. Patients are also likely to be reassured by a contactless approach. The app uses data from looking at a person's face to calculate the vital signs. This is possible because there are tiny changes in facial skin that occur each time the heart beats. The investigators believe Lifelight® could be an effective way of measuring vital signs. The app is still under development, which means that it is still "learning" the best match between the information it collects from the face and the values of vital signs measured using the standard equipment. The app should become more accurate in calculating the vital signs as it sees more and more information from patients. So far, the app has seen data from inpatients, outpatients, patients attending GP surgeries and healthy people. This has improved its accuracy in measuring vital signs. However, the app needs to see more information so that it can be sufficiently accurate for specific clinical applications such as long-term monitoring of hypertension. To do this, it particularly needs to see information from people with abnormal blood pressures and blood oxygen levels. In order to capture the full range of observations, the app will need to be trialled with some of the most critically ill patients - some of these will not have capacity to consent to participation in the study. It also needs to see more data from people with different skin tones so the investigators can be sure it is accurate for all patients. To do this, the investigators will recruit people who are attending one of two hospitals, either as an inpatient, an outpatient, a friend/relative of a patient, or a member of hospital staff. The exact number will depend on how quickly the app "learns" and how many of the vital signs are outside of the normal range. The investigators will take the participant's vital signs using standard clinical equipment whilst recording a video of their face. The investigators will use most of these measurements and video to teach the app how to become more accurate at measuring vital signs. The investigators will keep the remaining data separate and use it to test how accurate the app is. All of the data will be kept securely. The investigators will also collect feedback from participants and healthcare staff on their experiences using the app and information that allows us to assess whether there are any savings to the healthcare economy through use of this technology.
Up to today, inadequate evidences and knowledge exist about the best prehospital management of hypotensive trauma patients and its clinical consequence on the in-hospital recovery and mortality. Also new emerging therapies such as prehospital blood transfusion and REBOA (resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta) are lacking strong evidences in, eventually, reducing hospital mortality and improving outcomes. Moreover, prehospital emergency medicine is throughout Italy an heterogeneous system that has no unique standard operating procedures and, even among HEMS (helicopter emergency medical service), management and therapies on complex trauma patients may vary upon local policies. With this study we aim to enroll hypotensive trauma patients and study factors of prehospital rescue that can be associated with in-hospital mortality and recovery, eventually even with hospital outcome. For each patients data as demographic, kind of trauma (mechanism, injury scores), therapies and maneuvers will be recorded and then analyzed in comparison with in-hospital data such as need for transfusion, ABG parameters, length of stay (in-ward and ICU), need of therapies like invasive ventilation and renal replacement therapy, recovery and outcome
The overall aim of the study is to determine whether point-of-care (bedside) Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) testing would be better than laboratory APTT testing in the PICU population (restricted to children under 16 years of age).
Patient care who requires fast and intensive care by a mobile intensive care unit in a rescue helicopter is a common practice in Auvergne since more than 3 years. Indeed, a complete team (nurse and emergency physician) is on Dragon 63 and HeliSMUR 63 (SMUR = emergency medical services ). There are multiple fields of action, with a primary rescue activity (patient care directly at the site of the operation) but also secondary transport (transfer of patients from one hospital to another). This allows a reduction in transport time and therefore unavailability of the MICU team in general hospitals, which are in short supply of attending physicians. In addition, this allows patients to be repatriated to the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital Center, which is the reference center for many pathologies and has the Level 3 adult and pediatric Trauma Center.
For the emergency physicians and critical care specialists, how to quickly recognize shock from diverse clinical features and immediately treat shock patients to prevent progression to irreversible organ dysfunction from initially reversible shock condition are important issues and challenges. In recent years, ultrasonography had been extensively used in clinical practice recently, and well-trained medical staffs can quickly and easily apply ultrasound to evaluate, examine, diagnose, and even treat the patients. The clinical application of point-of-care ultrasound can help the first-line physicians rapidly evaluate and diagnose the main symptoms and signs of the patients at bedside, and further initially stabilize and appropriately treat the patients subsequently. The aim of this program is to prospectively collection of the findings of point-of-care ultrasonography in shock patients at emergency room in NTUH. The clinical manifestations, and followed up the examinations, treatments, and prognosis will also be collected. The effect of bedside ultrasound on differential diagnosis and treatment of shock patients will be analyzed. The results of the current study can provide the base for further clinical trials and set up of shock team.
Purpose: Assessing nociception and sedation in mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU is challenging, with few reliable methods available for continuous monitoring. Measurable cardiovascular and neurophysiological variables, such as blood pressure, heart rate, frontal EEG, and frontal EMG, might provide a medium for sedation and nociception monitoring. The hypothesis of this explorative study is that the aforementioned variables correlate with the level of sedation, as described by the Richmond Agitation-Sedation score (RASS). Methods: Thirty adult postoperative ICU patients on mechanical ventilation and receiving intravenous sedation, excluding patients with primary neurological disorders, head injury, or need for continuous neuromuscular blockage. Continuous measurements of bispectral index (BIS), EMG power (EMG), EMG-derived Responsiveness Index (RI), averaged blood pressure variability (ARV), and Surgical Pleth Index (SPI) were tested against repeated RASS measurements, and separately against responsiveness to painful stimuli at varying RASS levels.
Primary objective is to evaluate the feasibility of delivering an online early Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) Recent Traumatic Events Protocol (R-TEP) to patients who have survived Covid-19 related critical illness, within the context of a randomised controlled trial (RCT). This will inform the design of a future RCT investigating the effectiveness of EMDR R-TEP in reducing psychological symptoms, for adult survivors of intensive care.
The project is a longitudinal cohort study based on an electronic questionnaire on views and experiences of COVID-ICU Health care professionals during the pandemic. In addition, a few of the informants participating in the cohort study will be asked to participate in focus groups to get a deeper understanding of the experiences of Health care professionals. Leaders at the randomized hospitals will be asked to participate in individualized interviews.