Humidified high-flow nasal cannula oxygen utilised outside of the PICU in our institution for children with bronchiolitis did not reduce admission rates or length of stay to the PICU but was associated with a decreasing need for invasive ventilation and reduced hospital length of stay.

Patients requiring ECMO have acquired haemostatic disorders due to a vast interplay of factors including drugs, disease and device. In this heterogenous population it is impossible to define the isolated and combined effects of critical illness and ECMO on haemostasis.This study aimed to characterise changes in haemostasis attributable to ECMO in an in vivo ovine model using ROTEM ® and Multiplate ® analysis. In our validated model, 10 healthy sheep and 10 sheep with smoke-induced acute lung injury (S-ALI) were supported on venovenous ECMO. Heparin infusion commenced at 4 U/kg/h to achieve activated clotting time of 200-300 s. Samples were collected at baseline, pre-ECMO and 0.25, 1, 1.5 and 2 h post-ECMO initiation. Analysis included platelet counts, EXTEM and FIBTEM on ROTEM ® , and Multiplate ® analysis with ADP and collagen agonists.For both groups, platelet count remained within normal range. ECMO induced no significant changes to ADP or collagen-induced platelet aggregation or EXTEM clotting time. EXTEM clot formation time (CFT) was increased (p < 0.01) and EXTEM maximum clot firmness (MCF) (p < 0.001) was decreased compared to baseline for both groups throughout ECMO. A smaller decrease in FIBTEM-MCF was documented during ECMO in healthy sheep (p < 0.05) compared to sheep with S-ALI prior (p < 0.01).ECMO induces an increase in clot formation time and decrease in fibrinogen function and overall clot quality in healthy sheep. S-ALI prior to ECMO exacerbates these haemostatic alterations. Platelet number and function was maintained during ECMO, which, when assessed with the decrease in EXTEM-MCF and FIBTEM-MCF, suggests fibrinogen may be central to these haemostatic alterations.http://dx.

Rationing in health care is controversial, and even more so in pediatrics. Children are an inherently vulnerable group because they are reliant on their parents and caregivers to make decisions in their best interests and have no political voice. Historically, there has been general acceptance of the need to ration healthcare at a systems level, however there is controversy over whether healthcare professionals should be involved in rationing at the bedside. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that bedside rationing is unavoidable, at least in times of extreme resource scarcity. Internationally, there has been significant ethical analysis and guideline development to guide intensive care rationing decisions in the event that resources are overwhelmed. This paper explores the principles underlying distributive justice in healthcare rationing and discusses how these were operationalized in ethical guidelines for the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, rationing is unavoidable and occurs constantly in everyday nursing and medical ICU practice, often in mundane and uncontroversial ways. Some argue that these everyday decisions are not true rationing decisions, but resource allocation, or stewardship decisions. We argue there are no clear lines between resource allocation and rationing decisions, rather that they occur on a spectrum. These everyday rationing decisions are particularly susceptible to personal biases that are often implicit. Due to the subtle and constant nature of most everyday rationing decisions, specific guideline development will rarely be practical or appropriate. However, it is possible to develop other processes to improve decision making. There are a variety of strategies we recommend for this including, encouraging reflective practice; developing explicit frameworks that promote collaborative decision making; being transparent about resource allocation and rationing decisions with colleagues, patients, and families; and promoting a workplace culture of speaking up and accessing support in identifying and managing everyday rationing decisions.

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The aim of this study is to evaluate the amalgamation and maturation of a Pediatric Intensive Care Outreach Service (PICOS) with a rapid response system (RRS) and associated outcomes over a 10-year period. It is a single-center retrospective study analyzing patient outcomes within the context of significant organizational changes introducing a track and trigger RRS called Between the Flags (BTF) and evolution of this system to electronic observation charting and alerts (eBTF) in a tertiary metropolitan children's hospital. Children on inpatient wards who required urgent activation of the RRS and admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) between 2009 and 2018 were included. Three cohorts were identified according to the system changes—pre-BTF (2009–2011), BTF (2012–2017), and eBTF (2017–2018). The PICOS dose (number of activations per 1000 hospital admissions) increased with the introduction of BTF and the RRS and this trend continued following eBTF. The number of PICU admissions via the PICOS did not vary across the decade. When comparing the pre-BTF to the BTF group, PICU mortality decreased (p < 0.05), Pediatric Index of Mortality 2 Risk of Death scores improved, and hospital length of stay decreased (p < 0.05) in the BTF group. Introduction of a track and trigger RRS and electronic charting augmenting an existing PICOS is associated with increasing dose and workload, with no significant impact on PICU admission rates or length of stay. PICOS patient mortality has notably decreased with the introduction of an RRS; however, this impact was not sustained with the addition of electronic charting and alerts in the patient medical record.