OBJECTIVE To compare the prognostic value of the pneumonia severity index and the severity score for community-acquired pneumonia (CURB-65) in predicting mortality and the need for ICU admission of patients with community-acquired pneumonia referred to our emergency department. MATERIALS AND METHODS This prospective study was performed on patients with community-acquired pneumonia admitted to...

BACKGROUND Tracheostomy is considered the airway management of choice for patients who need prolonged mechanical ventilation support. Percutaneous Dilatational Tracheotomy (PDT) is a technique that can be performed easily and rapidly at bedside and is particularly useful in the intensive care setting. The Griggs percutaneous tracheotomy is unique in its utilization of a guide wire dilator force...

Aims: Frequent investigation of the patient for determining sedation level is one of the main measures in care of critically ill patient especially after heart surgeries. Riker scale is a valid and reliable tool which has been used in different studies as sedation-agitation scale in patients hospitalized in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This study had been done with the aim of “investigating the e...

BACKGROUND Disorders of serum sodium concentration are some of the most electrolyte abnormalities in the intensive care unit (ICU) patients. These disorders adversely affect the function of vital organs and are associated with increased hospital mortality. PURPOSE In the present study we aimed to evaluate the effects of serum sodium concentration abnormalities at the time of hospital admissio...

BACKGROUND Arrhythmia is a common complication after heart surgery and is a major source of morbidity and mortality. AIMS This study aimed to study the effect of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) for reduction of postcardiac surgery arrhythmia. SETTING AND DESIGN This study is performed in the cardiac operating room and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Shahid Madani Hospital of Tabriz (Iran) between Ja...

BACKGROUND Nowadays, ICU nurses play a significant role in the care of brain-dead patients and their families. Therefore, their knowledge, attitude and practice towards this issue are extremely important to the success of organ donation. OBJECTIVE To assess ICU nurses' knowledge, attitude and practice towards their role in the organ donation process from brain-dead patients and factors influe...

In this paper we propose a conditional logic IBC to represent iterated belief revision. We define an iterated belief revision system by strengthening the postulates proposed by Darwiche and Pearl [3]. First, following the line of Darwiche and Pearl, we modify AGM postulates to make belief revision a function of epistemic states rather than of belief sets. Then we propose a set of postulates for...

BACKGROUND Use of valid criteria for evaluation of patients admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) is essential to assess the quality of services provided. This study was conducted to evaluate admission, mean and the highest Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores in predicting mortality and outcome of patients admitted to the ICU. METHODS This prospective observational study was con...