ICU Volume 11 - Issue 1 - Spring 2011

We are delighted to once again welcome you to the International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine in Brussels, Belgium. As our 31st, I am reminded that every year that passes marks another step forward in our evolution as a field. As patients in the intensive care unit often require support for airway and respiratory compromise, it is fitting that not only does this issue of ICU Managem...

Professor and Chairman of the Department of Critical Care Medicine, Derek C. Angus is also Professor of Medicine and Health Policy and Management at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC. Dr. Angus is also the director of the Clinical Research, Investigation and Systems Modeling of Acute Illness (CRISMA) centre at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Angus took some time...

Infections are among the most frequent complications of a stay in hospital and raise the complication and mortality rates. Calculations based on data from the Hospital Infection Surveillance System (Krankenhaus-Infektions-Surveillance- System, KISS) showed an incidence of almost 60,000 newly acquired infections per year in intensive care units in Germany. This is the conclusion reached by Christine Geffers...

Reports on E-Health Stretegies and Implemantations in 30 Countries in Europe Now AvailableSince the publication of the European Commission's (EC) eHealth Action Plan in 2004, eHealth has gained significant momentum across Europe. "European countries on their journey towards national eHealth infrastructures - evidence of progress and recommendations for cooperative actions" is the title of a just released ov...

Author Gavin G. Lavery, MD, FFARCSI, FJFICMI ICU Consultant Regional Intensive Care Unit Royal Hospitals; and Clinical Director HSC Safety Forum Public Health Agency Belfast, Northern Ireland [email protected] Bronagh Blackwood, PhD, M.Sc Lecturer School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast Belfast, Northern Ireland Although mechanical ventilation (MV) provides physio...

Author Nancy Njoroge Staff Nurse Intensive Care Unit, Western General Hospital Edinburgh, Scotland [email protected] Fiona Paul Lecturer School of Nursing and Midwifery University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland The role of oral hygiene in maintaining the health and wellbeing of mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care is evident. Patients in intensive care have complicat...

Authors Technical Aspects Marcelo Gama de Abreu, M.D., Ph.D. Professor of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany [email protected] Patricia R.M. Rocco, MD, PhD Laboratory of Pulmonary Investigation, Carlos Chagas Filho Bioph...

Many studies, some already published a long time ago, have reported that hyperglycaemia (Dungan et al. 2009), or “dysglycaemia” (Smith et al. 2010) as some prefer, is an independent prognostic marker in acutely ill patients. For example, after cardiac surgery, glycaemia above 180 mg/dl, implying poor glucose control, was consistently and independently associated with an increased rate of postoperative i...

Author Olivier Joannes-Boyau, MD Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Department II University Hospital of Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux 2 Pessac, France [email protected] Patrick M. Honoré, MD ICU Head of Clinics, Universitair Ziekenhis Brussel Vrije Universitieit Brussel (VUB) Brussels, Belgium Renal replacement therapy (RRT) is now widely used within intensive care units (ICU)...

Authors Chadwick P. Smith, MD, FACS Fellow Department of Surgical Education, Orlando Regional Medical Center Orlando, Florida, USA [email protected] Michael L. Cheatham, MD, FACS, FCCM Director Department of Surgical Education, Orlando Regional Medical Center Orlando, Florida, USA [email protected] The management of intra-abdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment...

Authors Stijn Blot, PhD General Internal Medicine & Infectious Diseases Ghent University Hospital; Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium [email protected] Dominique Vandijck, PhD General Internal Medicine & Infectious Diseases Ghent University Hospital; Dept. of Health Economics Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences Ghent University, Belgium Dirk Vogelaers, P...

Author Natalia Marczewska Editorial Assistant ICU Management Providing healthcare for just under 9.5 million people (www.scb.se), the Swedish national healthcare system is regularly ranked as one of the best in the world and continues to improve through innovative solutions and investment in the latest technology. Health in Sweden Sweden boasts high life expectancy rates – 79 years for men and 83 y...

Author Amir Khorram-Manesh,MD,PhDMedical and Research Advisor,Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Centre Gothenburg, Sweden [email protected] Per Ortenwall, MD , PhD Medical Director, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Centre Gothenburg, Sweden [email protected] Major incidents can be mitigated and managed through planning, training and effective coordination of available resource...