ICU Management & Practice, ICU Volume 8 - Issue 2 - Summer 2008

Sepsis

Author Jean-Louis Vincent Head Department of Intensive Care,Erasme Hospital Free University of Brussels Brussels, Belgium Sepsis is one of the most difficult and challenging conditions to manage in our ICUs, as it can develop in many different situations and its’ course varies widely from patient to patient. As the incidence of sepsis increases, so too does our resolve to find effect...

Europe, Industry, Research

Europe Survey: EU Doctors Slow to Adopt eHealth Practices The use of ICT in the healthcare sector is becoming a daily practice, as general practitioners increasingly use computers either to store medical patients' data or assist patient consultation, according to a recent survey. A report entitled 'Benchmarking ICT use among general practitioners in Europe', one of several EU pilots on eHealth ind...

Performance Improvement in the Critical First Six Hours of Severe Sepsis

Author R. Phillip Dellinger M.D. Christa Schorr, R.N., BSN Cooper University Hospital, Camden USA Mitchell Levy, M.D. Sean Townsend, M.D. Rhode Island Hospital, Providence USA The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC), an initiative of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, the International Sepsis Forum, and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, was developed to improve the treatment of sepsis....

Surviving Sepsis: Updates to the Management Bundle

Author Sean R. Townsend, MD Intensivist, Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit Brown University & Rhode Island Hospital,Institute for Healthcare Improvement Providence, Rhode Island,USA There is considerable controversy and debate surrounding much of what we do at the bedside in critical care, and the management of sepsis is no exception. Developing a global standard of care for sepsis management, based...

Do Care Bundles Help in Implementing Sepsis Guidelines

Authors Jérôme Pugin, MD Professor, Head Physician Intensive Care Department University Hospitals of Geneva,Switzerland [email protected] Vandack Nobre, MD Research Fellow Intensive Care Department University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland A new set of guidelines has been published recently in Critical Care Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine (Dellinger et al. 2008a; Dellinger et al....

sepsis, bundles, outcomes

Are there Compelling Data that Sepsis Bundles can Improve Patient Outcomes

Michael S. Niederman, MD Professor and Vice-Chairman, Department of Medicine SUNY at Stony Brook Chairman, Department of Medicine Winthrop University Hospital Mineola, New York [email protected] Sepsis bundles are a prescriptive approach to patient management that include a number of superfluous elements, and yet omit important interventions that can improve patient outcome. The benefits and limita...

Current Controversies in Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

Part 2:Diagnosis and Antimicrobial Management Author Karen Pickett MB, BCh Medical Writer/Editor Dept of Intensive Care Erasme Hospital Brussels, Belgium A recent meeting in Berlin gathered six experts in the field of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) to present an overview of the many aspects related to VAP that remain poorly defined. In part I of this report (ICU Management, March 2008), we...

MRSA Management: A Cost Efficiency Problem

Authors Eric Nulens, MD Medical Microbiologist,Medical Microbiologist Department-Algemeen Ziekenhuis, Sint-Jan Bruges, Belgium Ellen Broex Msc,Ed Smeets Ellen Stobberingh ,MD,PhD Ruud Deurenberg, Ph.D Medical Microbiology Department- University Hospital Maastricht,The Netherlands [email protected] A recent meeting in Berlin gathered six experts in the field of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) to...

Understanding and Preventing Sentinel and Adverse Events

Authors Paul R. vanOstenberg,DDS,MS Executive Director,Department of Standards Development and Interpretation Joint Commission International Oak Brook, Illinois, USA. Paul Reis Manager of Publications Joint Commission Resources Oak Brook, Illinois, USA. Preventable medical errors threaten patient safety and are all too common in hospitals throughout the world. These errors-the most severe of which are...

Anaesthesia Units: Purchase Considerations

ECRI Institute Recommendations Included in the accompanying comparison chart are ECRI Institute's recommendations for minimum performance requirements for anaesthesia units. The recommendations are listed in two categories: basic and high performance. ECRI Institute considers certain minimum safety measures necessary for all anaesthesia units. Among these measures are: • O2 fail-safe and hypoxic...

Anaesthesia Units (ECRI Europe)

ECRI Institute is a totally independent nonprofit research agency designated as a Collaborating Center 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 Institute is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading inde...

Making Both Ends Meet

Authors Christian Zugck, MD,Assistant Professor Head of the working group on telemedicine Department of Cardiology,Angiology and Respiratory Medicine University of Heidelberg,Medical Centre Heidelberg, Germany [email protected] Jannis Radeleff, MD Department of Cardiology,Angiology and Respiratory Medicine University of Heidelberg,Medical Centre Heidelberg, Germany Lutz Frankenstein...

Safety in the Intensive Care Unit: Daily Goal Sheet

Authors Mariam Ali Alansari,MD,FRCSIConsultant Intensivist,Critical Care Unit Salmaniya Medica Complex,Manama,Bahrain [email protected] Khalid Maghrabi, MD Consultant Intensivist,Section of Critical Care Medicine Department of Medicine King Faisal Specialist Hospital Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Although all patient care settings present safety challenges, observational studies support that intensive car...

The Greece Healthcare System

Authors Gregory Roumeliotis,MPhil General Manager Cryo Save Balcanica Vice President of GHSMA [email protected] Stefanos Chronis, MSc Administrative Director Polyclinic Health Unit SA [email protected] The Country Greece covers an area of 131,957 km2, with hundreds of scattered islands around its coastline. The country is divided into 13 administrative regions. Over the last 15 years, a...

The Greece Hospital System

Author George J. Stathis Health Management Consultant President of GHSMA [email protected] The current hospital system in Greece is a direct result of Act 1397/1983 that established the National Health System (NHS). Laws that were later enforced brought about some changes, but did not modify the basic characteristics of the system. The Greek National Health System is responsible for 327 h...

Greece Health News

Hospitals Run on Scant Staff Many state hospitals are operating at below the emergency-staff level due to a chronic absence of personnel, says the leader of the country's hospital workers' union. Even university hospitals are unable to maintain self-sufficient specialist units as there are too few employees to staff them, according to the president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital W...

ISICEM 2008 Congress Review

Author Jean-Louis Vincent Dept of Intensive Care Erasme Hospital Free University of Brussels,Belgium 28th ISICEM –Reflections The 28th ISICEM, held in Brussels from March 18-21, was attended by almost 5000 participants from 84 countries. With a program of more than 700 separate sessions, it is difficult to select individual highlights and every attendee will have their own key points. So, rathe...

Esicm Congress Preview: Controversies in Critical Care

Authors Andrew Rhodes Chairman of the ESICM Congress Committee Rui P Moreno ESICM President Elect The 21st Annual Congress of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine will be held in Lisbon, Portugal from September 21-24, 2008. This congress is likely to be the biggest critical care meeting taking place in the world this year. Held over three days, it will feature ten parallel sessions...