News • ICU
Patients on ventilators often able to communicate
A new study reveals that more than half of patients in intensive care units (ICU) using ventilators to help them breathe could benefit from assistive communication tools.
ICU
Article • Emergency Medicine
POC ultrasound takes to the skies
Given their quality, small size, portability and robustness, SonoSite point-of-care ultrasound systems play vital roles in hectic A&E and surgical departments, and also in monitoring patients in transit.
Article • Paediatrics
New for paediatric intensive care
Critically ill children hospitalised with traumatic injuries have a high risk of acquiring nosocomial infections, especially if their immune function is impaired. A nosocomial infection, such as sepsis, can become as deadly as a traumatic injury, the leading cause of death in children. Report: Cynthia E Keen
Zero percent and other illusions
Professor Tobias Welte MD, President of the 24th International Congress of the European Respiratory Society, gave EH some personal views on the symposium ‘New perspectives in the management of nosocomial pneumonia’. Interview: Ralf Mateblowski
ICU-quality respiratory technology enters home care
John Power is breathing easier after agreeing to let the Philips Home Healthcare deal with the complex and competitive consumer market for medical technology.
Gathering to beat pain
This March, the Complesso Monumentale Santo Spirito in Sassia, Rome, was the unique and original venue for the 6th Annual SIMPAR Meeting, which aims to spread and support a wider scientific and cultural awareness of pain. Jane MacDougall interviewed Professor Massimo Allegri, President of organising committee, about the meeting and his own pain research projects.
Improved catheters and biopatch
Patients in intensive care units in hospitals across the UK are benefiting from a combination of new techniques and technology with changes in clinical practice that help to dramatically cut incidences of infection.
Optimising peri-operative procedures
Many physiological and observational studies indicate that non-invasive ventilation (NIV) after both thoracic and abdominal surgery is helpful and non-randomised trials have indeed confirmed the benefits.
‘Huge progress’ in the ICU
You’ll find Élie Azoulay everywhere during this year’s International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (ISICEM).
Transforming healthcare
Philips at MEDICA: New healthcare solutions developed with users and patients help improve the recovery process and treatment options for patients while supporting medical staff in their work
HES: class of drugs threatened with withdrawal of approval
Infusion solutions on the basis of HES (hydroxyethyl starch) are blood volume substitutes. They replace missing blood volume in patients with high blood loss, they stabilize the blood circulation and restore oxygen and nutrient supply to organs.
The time machine
While the benefits of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a temporary respiratory support for adult patients are still debated, it is undisputed that for many infants ECMO is the only chance to survive, because it provides them with time to strengthen their lungs
Delirium – an under-recognised risk factor
Disorientation, anxiety and hallucinations are symptoms of delirium, which may also occur after major surgery. Older people are particularly affected by postoperative delirium. Delirium after surgery occurs in up to 70% of cases, Anja Behringer reports
The 33rd International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine
Belgium – Last year, the annual ISICEM event attracted almost 6,000 participants from 101 countries. Its chairman, Professor Jean-Louis Vincent, from the Intensive Care Medicine Department in Erasme University Hospital, Brussels, offered EH a few reasons for its continuing success.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia
The use of endotracheal tubes with a dorsal lumen to allow drainage of respiratory secretions is currently not common in Germany, although two meta-analyses from the USA and Canada have already demonstrated that this special technique can reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) by 45-50%.
Traumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the main cause of accidental death in Europe and all highly developed countries, accounting for around 40% of all accidental mortality.
More sleep can reduce delirium in intensive care patients
A hospital is not the best place to get a good night’s sleep, especially in a noisy intensive care unit.
Sepsis diagnosis and treatment
‘We need an ECG for Sepsis,’ urged Professor Konrad Reinhart during this year’s Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (HAI) Congress in Berlin.
Article • Still a challenge
Perioperative anaesthesia for patients with heart failure
Can an anaesthetist treat a patient with heart failure (HF) without any specialist knowledge of cardiology? That was the question posed by Dr Florian Weis, from the Clinic of Anaesthesiology at the University Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, when lecturing on perioperative management of this patient group.
Controlling antimicrobial resistance
There is no other way: We need a comprehensive approach, with everyone living up to their responsibility to combat this serious health threat in their respective areas. The most basic instinct of every living organism is survival. What selects one organism or species over another, in fact, is its capacity to withstand any kind of adverse condition that comes its way – what scientist Herbert…
GE unveils avance CS2 Anaesthesia Delivery System
Leveraging more than 100 years of anaesthesia expertise, GE Healthcare introduces ecoFLOW technology option to help guide clinicians in agent delivery, while providing economic and environmental benefits.
GE introduces Giraffe Stand Alone Resuscitation System
GE Healthcare yesterday announced the availability of the Giraffe® Stand-Alone Infant Resuscitation (STAR) System, which integrates critical capabilities to enhance effective resuscitation of newborns.
Acute hospital care in England could be on the verge of collapse
With growing bed shortages and increased demand on clinical services, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) says that the country’s National Health Service (NHS) is approaching the point where acute care cannot keep pace in its current form, Mark Nicholls reports
Giving the tiniest patients a chance
The number of premature births increases continuously in all European countries – with the exception of Sweden. Every year around 500,000 children – every 10th baby – in Europe are premature, i.e. born before the end of the 37th week of pregnancy and with a birth weight below 2,500g.
