hyperglycemia, in trauma patient, is commonly associated with a hyper metabolic stress response. our objective is to determine the effects of hyperglycemia on the overall outcome of head trauma patients. in this descriptive study data were collected from head trauma patients' admitted to intensive care unit (icu) of poursina university hospital in a one-year period (jan 2004-jan 2005), retrospe...

Background & Aims: Endotracheal intubation is commonly performed in the intensive care unit. Many international guidelines for difficult intubation management are available and the intensivists think that any endotracheal intubation in ICU is potentially difficult with several complications. Materials & Methods: After obtaining ethical approval, this descriptive and analytical study was cond...

INTRODUCTION Tracheostomy is frequently performed in critically ill patients for prolonged intubation. However, the optimal timing of tracheostomy, and its impact on weaning from mechanical ventilation and outcomes in critically ill patients who require mechanical ventilation remain controversial. METHODS The medical records of patients who underwent tracheostomy in the medical intensive care...

OBJECTIVE Dysnatremia may have an impact on outcomes in critically ill patients, but this has not been widely investigated in surgical ICU patients. We investigated the epidemiology of dysnatremia in a large cohort of surgical ICU patients and evaluated the possible influence of the time of acquisition of dysnatremia and fluctuations in serum sodium concentrations on hospital mortality in these...

OBJECTIVE The objective of the study is to determine factors that influence the outcome of long stay patients in a general intensive care unit (ICU) and/or high-dependency unit (HDU) in a New Zealand teaching hospital. SETTING 10-bed general ICU and 4-bed surgical HDU in a 400-bed hospital. STUDY TYPE Population based retrospective cohort study. METHODS All patients with prolonged stay in...

OBJECTIVE Retrospective analyses of several trials suggest etomidate may be unsafe for intubation in patients with sepsis. We evaluated the association of etomidate and mortality in a large cohort of septic patients to determine if single-dose etomidate was associated with increased in-hospital mortality. DESIGN AND SETTING Retrospective cohort study at the Philips eICU Research Institute ICU...

Context: The number of patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) has increased over the last decade, generating a large population of chronically ill patients. Objective: To establish the incidence of PMV in four Intensive Care Units (ICUs), and to report different characteristics, hospital outcomes, and the impact of costs and services of PMV patients (mechanical ventilation de...

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to elucidate the impact of intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired infection on hospital mortality. METHODS Patients with a longer than 48 hour stay in a mixed 10 bed ICU in a tertiary-level teaching hospital were prospectively enrolled between May 2002 and June 2003. Risk factors for hospital mortality were analyzed with a logistic regression model. RESULT...

BACKGROUND Several models have been developed to predict prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) after cardiac surgery. However, no extensive quantitative validation of these models has yet been conducted. This study sought to identify and validate existing prediction models for prolonged ICU length of stay after cardiac surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS After a systematic review of the li...