Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of all patients receiving NIV for the first time at any stage of their ICU admission between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2014. Patients were divided into 3 groups: decompensated respiratory failure (DRF) (pH< 7.35 + pCO2>6KPa preNIV), non-decompensated respiratory failure (NDRF) (pH>7.35 or PCO2< 6Kpa pre-NIV) or post extubation. For each patient...

Patient safety is a critical issue in elective total joint replacement surgery. Identifying risk factors that might predict complications and intensive care unit (ICU) admission proves instrumental in reducing morbidity and mortality. The institution's experience with risk stratification and pre-operative ICU triage has resulted in a reduction in unplanned ICU admissions and post-operative comp...

The objective of this investigation is to review existing research pertaining to cognitive impairment and decline following critical illness and describe a case involving a 49-year-old female with sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with no prior neurologic history who, compared to baseline neuropsychological test data, experienced dramatic cognitive decline and brain atrophy ...

OBJECTIVE Evaluate moment of extubation in maxillofacial post-operative patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) and analyze early complications during their stay. DESIGN An observational and prospective study. SETTING Third level hospital ICU. PATIENTS AND METHODS All patients we underwent maxillofacial surgery and admitted to the ICU for immediate post-operative care from Febru...

Introduction: Recent studies suggest that liaison nurse intervention might be effective to solve the gap between intensive care unit and wards, but little studies are known about the effect of this intervention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of liaison nurse service on patient outcomes after discharging from intensive care unit. Methods: In this single blinded randomized c...

Severely ill patients with solid cancers or haematological malignancies are often considered poor candidates for intensive care treatments. Not so long ago, in guidelines for ICU admission, a taskforce of the American College of Critical Care Medicine concluded that patients with haematological or metastasised solid malignancies were poor candidates for ICU admission. In a Dutch study from Nijm...

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with worse outcome in the acute phase of acute illness but also in the chronic phase. In a large Danish study in this issue of Critical Care, 1-year mortality was higher in patients with AKI than in patients without AKI. Mortality was most important during the first 50 days after admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), whereas after 2 months the survi...