Latest Intensive-care unit Stories

MIAMI, Jan. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Severe sepsis is a leading cause of death in intensive care units. According to the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), severe sepsis strikes an estimated 750,000 people in the United States each year. Consistent with its ongoing commitment to early intervention and improved patient outcomes, Banner Health worked with Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) to implement the Philips VISICU eICU® Sepsis Management Program. The...

Remote monitoring of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) was not associated with an overall improvement in the risk of death or length of stay in the ICU or hospital, according to a study in the December 23/30 issue of JAMA.Experts recommend that intensivists (intensive care physicians) care for ICU patients onsite because of an associated lower rate of illness and death. "However, there is a shortage of intensivists, which has led to the use of telemedicine technology to allow...

MCHENRY, Ill., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Medela announced today the award recipients from its November Virtual Human Milk (breastmilk) Collection Campaign in honor of the March of Dimes' National Prematurity Awareness Month. More than 4,100 participated in the campaign, voting for their preferred Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Each of the following hospitals will receive $5,000 in neonatal human milk support products from Medela: * Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, Gulfport, MS. * St. John...

An unavoidable question in Intensive Medical Care is how many improve or recover the quality of life they had prior to admission to an Intensive Medical Care Unit (ICU) and how many disimprove and to what degree.Quality of life prior to and that expected after release from hospital is one of the factors most taken into account by professionals on admitting a patient into an Intensive Medical Care Unit. This is the case because the mission of medics at ICUs is not just to return the patients...

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- During the Institute for Healthcare Improvement National Forum, Advanced ICU Care showcased the improved outcomes of implementing virtual ICU technology. Five million patients are admitted to ICUs each year and an estimated 10 percent die while they are there. While full intensivist staffing would save 162,000 lives annually, only one in five ICUs has intensivists on staff. Remote monitoring programs for ICUs are a viable alternative to the intensivist...

Patients, discharged from hospitals on ventilator support and with cognitive impairments, fare poorly four months later. Researchers from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University report these findings in American Journal of Critical Care."Survival alone is not the only important outcome for patients," says Barbara Daly, the lead researcher on the National Institutes of Health-funded study, "Composite Outcomes of Chronically Critically Ill...

GUERNEVILLE, Calif., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Hospitals continue to develop new and improved communications strategies so doctors, nurses and technicians can provide the best patient care. In some hospital wards speed and accuracy are essential - especially the critical care unit / ICU. In the ICU nurses must be prepared to manage various complicated devices and multiple medicines delivered through assorted IV catheters, IV pumps and IV ports. ColorSafe IV Lines help nurses quickly and...

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y., Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Laerdal Medical, in alliance with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), has developed a second volume of pre-programmed scenarios for use with Laerdal's SimNewB (TM) neonatal patient simulator. SimNewB is designed to integrate simulation into the AAP's Neonatal Resuscitation Program and to facilitate training for treatment of other critical medical conditions in the neonatal period. (Logo:...

GUERNEVILLE, Calif., Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Hospital Intensive Care Units are among the most expensive costs in the U.S. health care industry. Intensive Care Units represent 10% of acute care beds, costing billions of dollars annually. Patients in ICU areas are typically very ill; their problems can be complex with a large range of acute illnesses and preexisting conditions present. Intensive Care Unit patients are often the sickest of the critically sick patients. The majority of injurious...

Doctors need better definitions to prevent and treat physical debility among critically illAfter decades of focusing on the management of respiratory failure, circulatory shock and severe infections that lead to extended stays in hospital intensive care units, critical care researchers are increasingly turning attention to what they believe is a treatable complication developed by many who spend days or weeks confined to an ICU bed: debilitating muscle weakness that can linger long after...