Objectives: Because of overcrowding and limited critical care resources, critically ill patients in the emergency department may spend hours to days awaiting transfer to the ICU. In these patients, often termed “ICU boarders,” delayed ICU transfer is associated with poor outcomes. We implemented an emergency department–based, electronic ICU monitoring system for ICU boarders. Our aim was to investigate the effect of this initiative on morbidity, mortality, and ICU usage. Design: Single-center, retrospective cohort study. Setting: Nonprofit, tertiary care, teaching hospital with greater than 100,000 emergency department visits per year. Patients: Emergency department patients with admission orders for the medical ICU, who spent more than 2 hours boarding in the emergency department after being accepted for admission to the medical ICU, were included in the study. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: During the study period, a total of 314 patients were admitted to the medical ICU from the emergency department, 214 of whom were considered ICU boarders with a delay in medical ICU transfer over 2 hours. Of ICU boarders, 115 (53.7%) were enrolled in electronic ICU telemonitoring (electronic ICU care), and the rest received usual emergency department care (emergency department care). Age, mean illness severity (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IVa scores), and admitting diagnoses did not differ significantly between ICU boarders receiving electronic ICU care and emergency department care. Forty-one electronic ICU care patients (36%) were ultimately transitioned to a less intensive level of care in lieu of ICU admission while still in the emergency department, compared with zero patients in the emergency department care group. Among all ICU boarders transferred to the ICU, in-hospital mortality was lower in the electronic ICU care cohort when compared with the emergency department care cohort (5.4% vs 20.0%; adjusted odds ratio, 0.08). Conclusions: In critically ill patients awaiting transfer from the emergency department to the medical ICU, electronic ICU care was associated with decreased mortality and lower ICU resource utilization.

Objective To analyze the trends in demographics and outcomes of patients presenting with traumatic brain injury by performing a retrospective database review of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Trauma Registry. Methods We utilized the IDPH Trauma Registry to retrieve data on patients treated for traumatic brain injuries at our large, tertiary care hospital from 2004 to 2012, inclusive. From this data, logistic regression models were used to analyze and compare basic demographics such as age, sex, and clinical outcome. Results Three thousand and thirty-nine patients were analyzed with a mean age of 43 (standard deviation, 24) and a median age of 41 (interquartile range, 23 to 60). Over the study period, patients’ age increased steadily from 32 to 49 years. The percentage of female patients increased, from 16.4% to 27.5% over the last 4 years. Overall mortality was greater for males than females (22.1% vs. 17.3%; odds ratio [OR], 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10 to 1.68). Mortality decreased over the period (OR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.85 to 0.91), with a greater decrease in females (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.90) than in males (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.86 to 0.94). Conclusion Although the age of patients presenting with traumatic brain injury is increasing substantially, the data suggests that overall mortality appears to be decreasing, and this decrease appears to be greater in females than in males. These changes in trends found in the IDPH Trauma Registry supports the importance for further analysis of other reliable public datasets to identify areas of future study.

We report a case of severe shivering resulting in rhabdomyolysis while on venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) that resolved after hyperthermia was induced using the ECMO circuit. The patient developed shivering approximately 24 hours after venoarterial ECMO cannulation for refractory ventricular tachycardia. The shivering caused rhabdomyolysis and necessitated cisatracurium infusion. The shivering failed to resolve after the patient was diagnosed and treated for ventilator-associated pneumonia. Suspecting sepsis as the etiology of shivering, the ECMO circuit temperature was increased to 38 °C, and the shivering was resolved. This case demonstrates therapeutic hyperthermia to treat infection-induced severe shivering and rhabdomyolysis while on ECMO.

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