View clinical trials related to Critical Illness.
Filter by:We hypothesize that measurements of interstitial fluid (ISF) glucose by the FreeStyle Navigator (Abbot Diabetes Care), a continuous glucose monitoring system, will correlate with blood glucose (BG) values in surgical and ICU patients with a clinically useful degree of accuracy.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether the use of both a nurse-driven sedation protocol and daily sedative interruption, compared with a sedation protocol alone, result in better outcomes for mechanically ventilated adults.
The Remote Physiological Monitoring System (RPM™) is a wireless technology for physiological monitoring. The RPM™ is designed to capture, transmit and remotely monitor the vital signs of a patient or group of patients. The RPM™ allows the patient to carry an unobtrusive unit and sensor array, which is able to store and/or forward its data via existing communication networks. This data is archivable and can be made available to a monitoring station or stations. This approach obviates the need to provide new and expensive infrastructure to support the system since it is designed to 'piggy-back' on the existing network. A major clinical advantage of the RPM™ and the principal reason why it may offer a benefit to patients, is that it provides continuous remote monitoring of vital signs, in contrast to the current situation for ward patients, where there is intermittent vital signs monitoring. This is a major advantage for patients and hospital staff, since there is increasing evidence that demonstrate early recognition and treatment of clinical events, e.g., shock, can save lives; the concurrent cost and labour saving is a further obvious benefit. The RPM™ uses wireless technology to overcome the portability problems associated with conventional patient monitoring systems. The RPM™ consists of the following system components: 1. Physiological Monitoring Unit (PMU) 2. Data Aggregation Server (DAS) 3. Clinical Monitoring Position (CMP) To validate the RPM™ device for regulatory approval, BRYTECH will evaluate the RPM™ in a clinical setting, thereby ensuring that the system is trustworthy and acceptable to health professionals as a monitoring system in patients. The study proposes to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the RPM™ compared to monitors commonly used in the medical practice under the standard conditions of medical practice The study also proposes to evaluate notification and alarm systems, the communications interface and non-interference with existing systems, devices, networks and procedures as well as the incremental nursing workload associated with the integration of the RPM™ in a clinical environment. The RPM™ and reference physiological monitoring devices will be compared for physiological monitoring capabilities in 40 patients.
Thyroid hormones are substances naturally made by the body and are important to many of your body's basic functions such as breathing and brain function. We are investigating whether or not these hormones are at lower levels in critically ill children which could lead to further health problems. We hope to get a better understanding of hormone levels and their effects on critically ill children to better help other children in the future.
Daptomycin is an antibiotic that is affective against many strains of antibiotic resistant microorganisms. This antibiotic would be appropriate for use in the intensive care unit (ICU) considering the severity of illness and high risk for infection within this hospital environment. While in the ICU, patients may develop acute renal failure. Approximately 75% of ICU patients who develop acute renal failure will require some form of renal replacement therapy until their kidneys recover. Continuous hemodialysis is becoming one of the most common forms of dialysis in the ICU as it is a gentle type of dialysis provided over longer periods of time. The current data demonstrating the ability of continuous hemodialysis to remove daptomycin from the body is derived from in-vitro trials. The purpose of this trial is to determine the extent of daptomycin removal from critically ill patients receiving continuous hemodialysis. Findings from this trial will be used to develop new dosing recommendations for daptomycin in continuous hemodialysis.
Hypoglycemia occurs frequently during intensive blood glucose control in critically ill patients. The incidence of hypoglycaemia is associated with impaired outcome. However, it is hitherto unknown if hypoglycaemia itself predisposes patients to neurological impairment, e.g. cognitive dysfunction, or if it is the underlying medical condition that makes the patient prone to a high risk of hypoglycaemia and, concomitantly, neurocognitive impairment. Therefore we investigate neurocognitive function in patients who had hypoglycemias during their intensive care stay and compare the results to patients without hypoglycaemia whose medical conditions are matched to the hypoglycaemia patients.
The Purpose of this study is to: 1. Refine and validate a computerized bedside decision support tool blood glucose management in critically ill adult and pediatric ICU patients. 2. Monitor how often low blood sugar levels occur during use of the bedside tool. 3. Determine how the computerized tool effects the workload of the ICU nurses.
The Purpose of this study is to: 1. Introduce the refined, validated, and safe computerized bedside decision support tool for blood glucose management in critically ill adult and pediatric ICU patients that was studied in Phase 1 into a second group of naïve ICUs, none of which participated in eProtocol-insulin development, refinement or validation 2. Monitor how often low blood sugar levels occur during use of the bedside tool. 3. Determine how the computerized tool effects the workload of the ICU nurses.
There is current evidence that maintaining ICU patient's blood sugar between 4.4-6.1 saves lives. However, this is difficult to do in the ICU and carries risks of lowering the blood sugar too much. In addition, the best way to achieve this control is not known. Many strict nomograms that provide a standardized approach for nurses have been developed and validated, including one here at SMH. However, these nomograms cannot apply to all patients at all times, especially ICU patients whose needs are rapidly changing. ICU nurses are at the bedside constantly, are very familiar with their patient's needs, and have decades of experience in titrating medication doses without a nomogram to achieve a pre-determined response (i.e. medications to achieve pre-selected blood pressure). Indeed, once the bedside nurse has bought into the importance of the concept of tight glucose control and have been introduced to the nomogram here at SMH, their experience and intuition may be more adaptable to the changing needs of the patient than an inflexible paper nomogram. This study will compare glucose control using our current standard nomogram versus no nomogram (i.e. nurse directed) in order to determine whether the nomogram should continue to be used.
Hypothesis: Fluid management guided by LiDCO doesn´t increase cumulative fluid balance and shorten organ dysfunction compared to fluid management based on CVP and clinical judgment.