Editorial

Author Jean-Louis Vincent Head, Department of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital Free University of Brussels, Belgium Safety must be a key priority for any service driven industry where errors have the potential to cause harm to people (Dorman 2005). All humans make errors, and doctors are no exception. Each year the media highlight cases where the wrong limb has been amputated or the wrong organ...

News and Innovations

UN Pandemic Planning and Preparedness www.undg.org To counter the direct impact that an influenza pandemic may have at a global level, the United Nations System Influenza Coordination (UNSIC) has developed “UN System Pandemic Planning and Preparedness Guidelines”. These include checklists, templates and toolkits showing best practice. According to the guidelines, each country has to formulate not o...

Haïti: Medicin Sans Frontières www.msf.be On August 2005 Medicine Sans Frontières (MSF) started an intervention in Cité Soleil, one of the most neglected and dangerous slums in Port au Prince, Haiti’s capital city, where 250,000 people live in poverty, violence and social instability. MSF re-opened Choscal Hospital (St. Catherine’s Hospital) and the Chapi Health Centre in the heart of Cité...

HAMILTON MEDICAL: RAPHAEL XTC www.hamilton-medical.com In March 2006 at ISICEM in Brussels, Hamilton Medical will launch the Raphael XTC, a single ventilation solution for both noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) and invasive ventilation. Combining the RAPHAEL platform with a single-limb breathing circuit and a large monitor, the RAPHAEL XTC is suitable for stepdown or -subacute care u...

ESICM Research Awards Jean Daniel Chiche Head of Research Committee www.esicm.org The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) has launched a programme to fund European research initiatives led by young investigators. Thanks to a genuine partnership with industrial leaders, 6 Industry Research Awards ranging from 5,000 to 80,000 } are available: The ”Alain Harf Award on Applied...

Research: SCCM Awards The 35th Critical Care Congress of the Society of Critical Care Medicine was held in San Francisco 7th to 11th January 2006. A selection of the SCCM awards is reported here and a full list is available on the SCCM website: www.sccm.org/ membership/awards/recipients/index.asp The winner of the 2006 SCCM Vision Grant, sponsored through contributions to the SCCM’s Critical Care...

Cover Story:Safety in Care

Authors Tanja Manser, PhD Centre for Organizational and Occupational Sciences ETH Zurich [email protected] David M. Gaba, MD Stanford University Patient Simulation Centre of innovation, VA Palo Alto Health Care System Geoffrey K. Lighthall, PhD, MD Anaesthesiology and Critical Care, Stanford University http://anesthesia.stanford.edu/VASimulator/simulator.htm Drs Manser,...

Authors Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD Dept. of Anaesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, USA [email protected] Christine A. Goeschel, RN, MPA, MPS Keystone Centre for Patient Safety and Quality Michigan Health and Hospital Association Lansing, USA www.mhakeystonecenter.org www.safetyresearch.org Acknowledgement Funding provided by the Age...

Authors Rhona Flin, PhD Professor of Applied Psychology Thomas Reader, MA Postgraduate Research Student Industrial Psychology Research Centre, University of Aberdeen [email protected] www.abdn.ac.uk/iprc Effective teamwork is crucial for ensuring patient safety within the ICU. In other high-risk industries (see also Manser, Gaba and Lighthall in this issue of ICU Management) where...

Author MariamA. Al-Ansari, MD, FRCSI Consultant Intensivist Salmaniya Medical Complex Kingdom of Bahrain [email protected] Medical errors related to residents are well-documented. Focusing the attention of physicians-in-training towards patient safety represents an opportunity for improving safety in the ICU. In this article, Dr MariamAl-Ansari summarises the key educational issues for pro...

Matrix Features

Authors RameshVenkataraman, MD John. A. Kellum, MD The CRISMA Laboratory (Clinical Research, Investigation, and Systems Modelling of Acute Illness) Department of Critical Care Medicine University of Pittsburgh USA [email protected] In the winter issue of ICU Management 2005, Drs Kellumand Venkataraman reviewed evidence on timing of initiation of renal replacement therapy in Acute Re...

Authors Fabian Spöhr, MD BerndW. Böttiger MD, DEAA Dept. of Anesthesiology Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Germany http://erc.edu/index.php/newsitem/en/nid=146 [email protected] Risk of life-threatening bleeding complications has prevented the use of thrombolytic drugs during CPR, although recent cases suggest improved short and long-term outcomes in certain patient...

Author Richard S. Bourne MSc, MRPharmS Lead Critical Care Pharmacist Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, UK [email protected] New legislation and national standards in the UK promote the role of the critical care clinical pharmacist towards integration in the critical care teamand improving patient care. Traditionally, critical care clinical pharmacy services have often been developed i...

Product Comparison:Cardiac Output Monitors

ECRI is a totally independent non profit research agency designated as a Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organization (WHO). Such organizations are appointed to contribute to WHO’s public health mission by providing specialized knowledge, expertise, and support in the health field to the WHO and its member nations. ECRI is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading independent organizatio...

Authors M Cecconi Dept. of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care University of Udine, Italy E McKinney St George's Hospital, London A Rhodes St George's Hospital, London [email protected] In this paper we present the main characteristics of devices that can provide cardiac output measurement and which require the placement of an intravascular catheter. Introduction Haemodynami...

Management

Authors Ronald Pauldine, MD, Fellow Todd Dorman, MD, FCCM Dept. of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, US [email protected] In previous articles in this series, Drs Pauldine and Dorman have discussed communication skills in conflict resolution, and strategies for effective communication in intensive care practice. In this artic...

Authors Rui P. Moreno, MD, PhD, Prof. Unidade de Cuidados, Intensivos Polivalente, Hospital de St. António dos Capuchos, Lisboa, Portugal [email protected] Philipp G.H. Metnitz MD, PhD, Prof., DEAA Dept. of Anaesthesiology and General Intensive Care University Hospital of Vienna, Austria On behalf of the SAPS 3 Investigators Problems with existing risk assessment models f...

Authors Charles L. Sprung Director General Intensive Care Unit Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine Hadassah University, Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel David Edbrooke Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK On Behalf of the ELDICUS investigators Acknowledgement The ELDICUS project is funded as part of the European RTD projec...

Authors Thomas Heidegger, MD, DEAA Quality Manager in Healthcare, Consultant Anaesthetist Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen, Switzerland [email protected] Detlef Saal, MD, DEAA Consultant Anaesthetist, Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen Switzerland Yvonne Husemann, Lic. Phil. Healthcare Consultant Switzerland Matthias Nuebling, PhD GEB: Empirical Consulting Denzlingen, Ger...

Authors David L. Edbrooke, FRCA Professor Intensive Care Royal Hallamshire Hospital Sheffield, UK [email protected] Bertrand Guidet, MD Professor, Intensive Care Hospital St. Antoine Paris, France Akos Csomos, MD, DEAA Consultant, Intensive Care Markhot Teaching Hospital Eger, Hungary Thomas Prien, MSc Professor, Intensive Care University Hospital Munster, Germany Gary H...

Authors Carol George MBus (IT) Lynda Norton, MPH Tracey Higlett, MPH Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS) [email protected] http://sas.anzics.com.au/Portal www.anzics.com.au Acknowledgement The ANZICS database projects are funded at a regional level by grants from the Ministry of Health (New Zealand) and State and Territory Health Departments through the A...

Views and Interviews

Author Michael Holzer, MD Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical University of Vienna [email protected] Dr Michael Holzer presents the rationale for cooling all comatose patients after cardiac arrest. About 17 million people worldwide die from cardiovascular diseases each year (World Health Organization 2002), and many of these deaths are due to sudden cardiac arrest....

Author Antonio Artigas Critical Care Centre Sabadell Hospital University Institute Parc Tauli, Sabadell Barcelona, Spain [email protected] Professor Antonio Artigas describes the design and operation of the Critical Care Centre at Sabadell Hospital, his management experiences and strategic aims for improving intensive care. Professor A. Artigas has organized 20 scientific meetings, publ...

EU Focus:Institution Series

Author Sonja Planitzer This is the third part in a series which covers the structure and operations of the EU institutions. In the first of the series (autumn 2005) Helicia Herman introduced the European Commission (EC).The second part (winter 2005) described the composition, functioning and main role of the European Parliament. In this third instalment, the structure, role and operation of the Cou...

Author Rory Watson EU Correspondent [email protected] ICU Management EU Correspondent, Rory Watson, describes current EU decision making activities concerning the working time directive, services directive, the European Commission’s health priorities programme 2006, and a new organ transplants legislative proposal. The Austrian and Finnish governments have already established the pri...

Country Focus:US

Authors S. Sujanthy Rajaram, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine Cooper University Hospital [email protected] Carolyn Bekes, MD, MHA Professor of Medicine Cooper University Hospital This article describes the healthcare system in the US, current issues, cost and management. Healthcare The US has a mixed system of public and private insurance. Most working-age...

Author Charles G. Durbin, Jr. MD, FCCM President of the Society of Critical Care Medicine [email protected] Scientific studies support delivery of ICU care by a multi-professional team of experts stationed at the patient’s bedside.A looming shortage of healthcare providers in the United States will threaten ICU safety and quality. Introduction Evaluation of and increasing the quali...

Author Gerald A. Maccioli, MD, FCCM Chairman, American Society of Anaesthesiologists Committee on Critical Care Medicine President-Elect American Society of Critical Care Anaesthesiologists Director of Critical Care Medicine, Critical Health Systems of NC Raleigh Practice Centre [email protected] Dr Maccioli discusses some of the issues which threaten to aggravate the predicted shortage o...

Author Michael J. Breslow, MD, FCCM Executive Vice President Research & Development VISICU, Inc. Baltimore, Maryland [email protected] Remote ICU care programmes have become more prevalent in the US over the past 3 years as hospitals try to leverage clinician expertise and improve quality. Introduction There are insufficient numbers of intensivists, critical care nurses and othe...

Authors Todd Dorman, MD, FCCM Ronald Pauldine, MD, Fellow Dept. of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, US [email protected] Billing and documentation requirements are extremely complex for critical ill patients and no relief is in sight. Drs Dorman and Pauldine review the present documentation requirements for critically ill or i...

Congress Previews

Author Jennifer M Hunter, MB ChB PhD FRCA Chairman Elect Scientific Programme Committee, ESA University Department of Anaesthesia University Clinical Departments Liverpool [email protected] www.euroanesthesia.org Acknowledgement We thank Dr Gordon Drummond, who completes his term of office as Chairman of the Scientific Programme Committee in March 2006, for his flair, energy and commit...


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