Background: Clinical assessment of the severity of illness among critically ill patients is an essential component to predict the mortality and morbidity in intensive care units. Scoring systems estimate the prognosis and help in clinical decision making thus enhance the quality of care in Intensive care units.Methods: A descriptive study including 122 patients admitted to medical intensive care unit was performed from January 2017-March 2017 in Southern Kerala. APACHE II score for the first 24 hours of admission to the intensive care unit was calculated. SPSS 20 was applied for statistical analysis, and clinical parameters were investigated with descriptive statistics.Results: The actual ICU mortality rate (9%) was less than the predicted mortality rate (43.6%) obtained using the APACHE II. Majority of patients 98(80%) had APACHE score >15. There was a statistically significant correlation observed between age and predicted mortality score of critically ill (r=.434 p=0.01).Conclusions: APACHE II scoring system has been successful in predicting the mortality of critically ill. Healthcare professionals should therefore incorporate the disease severity measuring tools in their clinical practice to prioritize and optimize the care rendered in critical care units.

Background: Hemodialysis remains the most frequently used renal replacement modality across the globe. Vascular access needed to provide hemodialysis falls under two main categories that are short term and long term. Tunneled, cuffed central venous catheters are used extensively throughout the hemodialysis patient population as permanent arteriovenous access. Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the effect of simulation-based learning as an effective learning strategy on knowledge and practices regarding hemodialysis catheter exit site care among dialysis technician students. Materials and methods: Quantitative pre-experimental one-group pretest and posttest designs were adopted for the study. The purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data from 44 dialysis technician students. Results: Most of the samples (36, 82%) had good knowledge, and most of the subjects (37, 84%) had a satisfactory practicing level after the intervention. There was a significant difference between knowledge and practice scores before and after the educational program (p = 0.001 * ). Conclusion:The study concluded that the intervention effectively improves the dialysis technicians as students' knowledge and practice regarding hemodialysis catheter exit site care as well as student satisfaction and self-confidence of simulation-based learning.