Quality of care before admission to intensive care

Fully Automatic External Defibrillators in Acute Care: Clinicians' Experiences and Perceptions

“…Patients' written and verbal consent to participate in the study was gained. Consenting patients were included if they had one or more of: (i) an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) presenting within 24 h of onset of chest pain, (ii) recurrent ventricular arrhythmias and (iii) on the basis of an Early Warning Score (EWS) [15,16]. For this study, the EWS was as indicated in Table 1.…”

Patient safety on the otolaryngology service: the role of an established rapid response system

“…The role of these teams is supported by studies describing predictable prodromes of clinical deterioration before cardiopulmonary arrest 2 3 4 5. These findings were later expanded to describe physiological deterioration before intensive care unit (ICU) transfer and/or non-arrest-related death 6 7 8 9. METs were introduced to rapidly escalate medical care by bringing ICU quality care to the bedside, thereby “rewriting” the clinical “script” for patients with sudden critical illnesses outside the ICU.…”

NEWSworthy but Not Ready for Prime Time

“…In addition, there is some evidence to suggest that those patients transferred to the ICU from the general wards have relatively higher mortality rates than patients who are admitted directly from the emergency department or operating rooms/ recovery areas. 1,2 In fact, one could argue that many patients admitted to general wards are seriously ill and could benefit from either intermediate or intensive care unit admission. The ICU beds, however, are limited and very expensive, and hence not available for most patients except for those who require vasopressors, ventilation, or continuous venovenous dialysis.…”