BACKGROUND Symptoms of anxiety and depression are common among family members of ICU patients and are culturally dependent. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety and depression and associated factors in family members of ICU patients in two Central European countries. METHODS We conducted a prospective multicenter study involving 22 ICUs (250 beds) in the Cz...

Patient safety is a challenge for the quality in health care system. This study aimed to analyze the appropriateness of the allocation of nursing staff according to the hours of care required by patients and to identify the relationship between this allocation and adverse events/incidents (EA/I). This research was observational, descriptive and prospective, developed in Clinics ICU located in t...

We summarize the key interventions and general findings from a 3-yr project titled, "Merging Palliative and Critical Care Cultures in the Medical Intensive Care Unit." This multifaceted demonstration project was designed so palliative care and intensive care clinicians would share their expertise and develop projects that promote end-of-life care in a medical intensive care unit (ICU) setting. ...

OBJECTIVES To describe our experience and the practical tools we have developed to facilitate early mobilization in the intensive care unit (ICU) as a multidisciplinary team. BACKGROUND Despite the evidence supporting early mobilization for improving outcomes for ICU patients, recent international point-prevalence studies reveal that few patients are mobilized in the ICU. Existing guidelines ...

0147-9563/99/$8.00 + 0 2/1/101055 The limited number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds and the demand for these beds often forces patients to be discharged earlier than is clinically indicated. Consequently, some patients are discharged from the ICU with significant health care needs requiring skilled management by health care practitioners on the general wards. Without adequate resources on th...

Infra-red and thermal imaging enable wireless systems to monitor patients’ vital signs absence of wires may improve patient experiences. No studies have explored staff perceptions the concept this specific type technology in adult population. Understanding existing working before introducing could adoption. We conducted semi-structured interviews with Intensive Care Unit (ICU) exploring monitor...

Surveillance of clinical entities such as healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) by conventional techniques is a time-consuming task for highly trained experts. Such are neither available nor affordable in sufficient numbers on a permanent basis. Nevertheless, expert surveillance is a key parameter for good clinical practice, especially in intensive care medicine. MONI-ICU (monitoring of nosoc...

CONTEXT Although critical access hospitals (CAHs) have limitations on number of acute care beds and average length of stay, some of them provide intensive care unit (ICU) services. PURPOSE To describe the facilities, equipment, and staffing used by CAHs for intensive care, the types of patients receiving ICU care, and the perceived impact of closing the ICU on CAH staff and the local communit...

To compare the sensitivity of various protocols for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) surveillance, active surveillance for detecting MRSA nasal colonization was performed on 97 members of the medical staff and 218 patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a university hospital. Duplicate nasal swabs were collected from each participant. One was plated directly on a blood ag...

Background. Bedside radiological procedures pose a risk of radiation exposure to ICU staff. The perception of risk may increase the degree of caution among the health care staff and raise new barriers preventing patients from obtaining prompt care. Objective. The aim of this study was to estimate the annual cumulative radiation dose to individual ICU staff. Methods. In this prospective study, f...