Purpose Half of the patients experience pain during their ICU stay which is known to influence their outcomes. Nurses and physicians encounter organizational barriers towards pain assessment and treatment. We aimed to evaluate the association between adequate pain management and nurse to patient ratio, …

PURPOSE: To assess the association of clinical variables and the development of specified chronic conditions in ICU survivors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study, combining a national health insurance claims database and a national quality registry for ICUs. Claims data from 2012 to …

PURPOSE: Premorbid conditions affect prognosis of acutely-ill aged patients. Several lines of evidence suggest geriatric syndromes need to be assessed but little is known on their relative effect on the 30-day survival after ICU admission. The primary aim of this study was to describe the prevalence …

BACKGROUND: General Practitioners (GPs) play a key role in the healthcare trajectory of patients. If the patient experiences problems that are typically non-life-threatening, such as the symptoms of post-intensive-care syndrome, the GP will be the first healthcare professional they consult. The primary …

OBJECTIVES: To describe the types and prevalence of chronic conditions in an ICU population and a population-based control group during the year before ICU admission and to quantify the risk of developing new chronic conditions in ICU patients compared with the control group. DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective …

PURPOSE: To document and analyse the decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment (LST) in a population of very old patients admitted to the ICU. METHODS: This prospective study included intensive care patients aged ≥ 80 years in 309 ICUs from 21 European countries with 30-day mortality …

INTRODUCTION: While prone positioning (PP) has been shown to improve patient survival in moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients, the rate of application of PP in clinical practice still appears low. AIM: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of use of PP in ARDS …

Predictive models, such as acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE-II), are widely used in intensive care units (ICUs) to estimate mortality. Although the presence of delirium is associated with a higher mortality in ICU patients, delirium is not part of the APACHE-II model. The aim …

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Endotracheal suctioning in intubated patients is routinely applied in most ICUs but may have negative side effects. We hypothesised that on-demand minimally invasive suctioning would have fewer side effects than routine deep endotracheal suctioning, and would be comparable in duration …