View clinical trials related to Critical Care.
Filter by:The study is a prospective interventional study with three main aims: 1. Describe the frequency and severity of withdrawal syndrome in a population of paediatric intensive care patients. 2. Test whether implementation of an algorithm for tapering of analgosedation changes the frequency and severity of withdrawal symptoms in the same population. 3. Investigate how the health care providers experience having to adhere to such an algorithm.
This study evaluates the addition of a quality improvement toolbox to an online audit and feedback intervention in Dutch intensive care units. The toolbox comprises for each quality indicator (e.g., percentage of patients per shift whose pain is measured) a list of potential bottlenecks in the care process (e.g., staff is unaware of the prevailing guidelines for measuring pain every shift), associated recommendations for actions to solve mentioned bottlenecks (e.g., organize an educational training session), and supporting materials to facilitate implementation of the actions (e.g., a slide show presentation discussing the importance and relevance of measuring pain every shift). Half of the participating intensive care units will only receive online feedback, while the other half will additionally gain access to the integrated toolbox to facilitate planning and executing actions.
The DONATE-Pilot is a prospective observational cohort study in organ donation (OD) that observes the ICU management of consented deceased organ donors at 4 high volume centres over a period of 12 months each. The pilot study will be followed by a 1-year prospective national observational study a 15-20 ICUs across Canada.
Most ICU patients develop a positive fluid balance, mainly during the two first weeks of their stay. The causes are multifactorial: a reduced urine output subsequent to shock state, positive pressure mechanical ventilation, acute renal failure, post-operative period of major surgical procedures, and simultaneous fluid loading to maintain volemia and acceptable arterial pressure. Additionally, the efficacy of fluid loading is frequently suboptimal, in relation to severe hypoalbuminemia and inflammatory capillary leakage. This results usually in a cumulated positive fluid balance of more than 10 litres at the end of the first week of stay. A high number of studies have showed that such a positive fluid balance was an independent factor of worse prognosis in selected populations of ICU patients: acute renal failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), sepsis, post-operative of high risk surgery. However, little is known about the putative causal role of positive fluid balance by itself on outcome. However, in two randomized controlled studies in patients with ARDS, a strategy of fluid balance control has been demonstrated to reduce time under mechanical ventilation and ICU length of stay with no noticeable adverse effects. Although avoiding fluid overload is now recommended in ARDS management, there is no evidence that this approach would be beneficial in a more general population of ICU patients (i.e. with sepsis, acute renal failure, mechanical ventilation). In addition, fluid restriction -mainly if applied early could be deleterious in reducing both tissue oxygen delivery and perfusion pressure. There is a place for a prospective study comparing a "conventional" attitude based on liberal fluid management throughout the ICU stay with a restrictive approach aiming at controlling fluid balance, at least as soon as the patient circulatory status is stabilized. The latter approach would use a simple algorithm using fluid restriction and diuretics based on daily weighing, a common procedure in the ICU, probably more reliable than cumulative measurement of fluid movements in patients whose limits have been underlined.
Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio NLR is an important index that evaluate the inflammatory status . It is a cost effective and readily available , and simply calculated , so that why investigators try to use it as a predictor of short term survival in the critically ill patients
Central venous catheter placement is a common procedure in the intensive care unit and is a required skill for all residents working in the critical care setting. Central venous catheters (CVC) are placed for a variety of reasons including administration of caustic medications, administration of fluids or blood products for rapid resuscitation, access for hemodynamic monitoring or transvenous pacing, temporary vascular access for dialysis, or inability to obtain peripheral IV access. CVC's are routinely placed in the internal jugular vein in the Vanderbilt medical ICU and ultrasound guidance is used. Placement of the CVC on the right IJ instead of the left IJ is commonly preferred due to the more direct path to the superior vena cava. However, placement in the left IJ may be necessary for a variety of reasons. The investigators intend to compare the standard practice of residents and nurse practitioners placing IJ CVCs in the medical ICU against mandatory screening of the right and left IJ prior to selection of the CVC placement site. The investigators will accomplish this by assessing the relative first pass stick and overall success rates, the rate of aborted procedures, and the rate of complications between standard practice and mandatory screening of bilateral internal jugular veins prior to CVC site selection.
Cardiac arrest is at present a major cause of mortality as well as a cause of disability for the surviving victims.In Europe, every year counts as 300,000 cardiac arrests responsible for 250,000 deaths. Thus, less than 20 % of patients discharged home with impaired quality of life associated with symptoms of tiredness, stress, anxiety. The prognosis is related to the initial cardiac rhythm present during the initiation of resuscitation. Recent progress in the improvement of mortality and neurological outcome has been achieved over the last decade thanks to the systematic implementation of a period of targeted temperature control between 32 and 34 ° C in patients who benefited from the realization of at least one electrical external shock. There are theoretical and clinical arguments to think that achieving the same way a period of targeted temperature control between 32 and 34 ° C in patients treated for cardiac arrest with a non- shockable rhythm on arrival can also benefit from this procedure. However other arguments are against this hypothesis including an increase in the risk of infection , worsening of the patient's hemodynamic status with no benefit to him. To answer this question, we conduce a randomized multicenter study testing the potential improvement of neurological outcome through this procedure targeted temperature control between 32.5 and 33.5 ° C in these patients. NSE-Ancillary Study of HYPERION Trial will determine impact on neurospecific enolase (brain biomarker) of two temperature target for targeted temperature management (33°C or 37°C) after cardiac arrest in non-shockable rhythm.
A prospective study to compare the use of point of care echocardiography versus routine chest radiography for the assessment of central venous catheter placement.
ICU patients are at high risk of ionic or metabolic disturbances during the course of their critical illness. Some of these disturbances might be life-threatening and require rapid response from physicians. Point-of-Care determination of electrolytes, glucose, hemoglobin and hematocrit ensures early detection (within 1 minute) of abnormal values and allows rapid and appropriate therapy. This technology has largely improved the quality of care in ICU. However, the accuracy of the measurement of those parameters had to be close enough to the reference method, usually perfomed in the central lab but time consuming. Recently, a novel generation of blood gas analyser has been released. Among them, the RapidPoint 500 is mounted with a 28-day cartridge which provides automatic calibrations and quality controls several times a day. Such a technology dramatically decreases the need for labs technical interventions. To date, there is no data reporting the accuracy of this device. Therefore, the investigators' aim is to compare the accuracy of the RapidPoint 500 with a reference measurement performed at the central laboratory (Beckman&Coulter AU5800 for electrolytes and Beckman&Coulter DXH for hemoglobin).
Effect of toothbrushing in oral care of mechanically ventilated critically ill patients on prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia