OBJECTIVE To determine whether a lack of intensive care unit beds was leading to premature patient discharge from the intensive care unit and subsequent early readmission or death. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING A single Canadian tertiary care teaching hospital. PATIENTS All intensive care unit admissions between January 1, 1989 and December 31, 1996 were collected prospectively...

conclusions our study found that maximum serum glucose concentration positively correlated with the duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay, and mortality. background the purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of hyperglycemia in nondiabetic critically ill children and to investigate its relationship with mechanical ventilation, length of stay and mortality. methods in t...

abstract background: accumulation of secretions in the airways of patients with an endotracheal tube and mechanical ventilation will have serious consequences. one of the most common methods of airway clearance is endotracheal suctioning. in order to facilitate discharge of airway secretion resulting in promotion of gas exchange, chest physiotherapy techniques can be used at the time of expirat...

background: ventilator-associated pneumonia (vap) increases the cost of intensive care unit (icu) treatment and the chance of mortality. due to the increasing use of proton pump inhibitors (ppi) and h2 receptor inhibitors for stress ulcer prophylaxis, the purpose of the study was to investigate the differences of vap in two groups of patients receiving ppi or h2 blocker. methods: in the retrosp...