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OBJECTIVES: To characterize and compare trends in ICU admission, hospital outcomes, and resource utilization for critically ill very elderly patients (≥ 80 yr old) compared with the younger cohort (16-79 yr old). DESIGN: A retrospective multicenter cohort study. SETTING: One-hundred ninety-four ICUs contributing data to the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Centre for Outcome and Resource Evaluation Adult Patient Database between January 2006 and December 2018. PATIENTS: Adult (≥ 16 yr) patients admitted to Australian and New Zealand ICUs. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Very elderly patients with a mean ± sd age of 84.8 ± 3.7 years accounted for 14.8% (232,582/1,568,959) of all adult ICU admissions. They had higher comorbid disease burden and illness severity scores compared with the younger cohort. Hospital (15.4% vs 7.8%, p < 0.001) and ICU mortality (8.5% vs 5.2%, p < 0.001) were higher in the very elderly. They stayed fewer days in ICU, but longer in hospital and had more ICU readmissions. Among survivors, a lower proportion of very elderly was discharged home (65.2% vs 82.4%, p < 0.001), and a higher proportion was discharged to chronic care/nursing home facilities (20.1% vs 7.8%, p < 0.001). Although there was no change in the proportion of very elderly ICU admissions over the study period, they showed a greater decline in risk-adjusted mortality (6.3% [95% CI, 5.9%-6.7%] vs 4.0% [95% CI, 3.7%-4.2%] relative reduction per year, p < 0.001) compared with the younger cohort. The mortality of very elderly unplanned ICU admissions improved faster than the younger cohort (p < 0.001), whereas improvements in mortality among elective surgical ICU admissions were similar in both groups (p = 0.45). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of ICU admissions greater than or equal to 80 years old did not change over the 13-year study period. Although their mortality was higher, they showed improved survivorship over time, especially in the unplanned ICU admission subgroup. A higher proportion of survivors were discharged to chronic care facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in digital health, systems biology, environmental monitoring, and artificial intelligence (AI) continue to revolutionize health care, ushering a precision health future. More than disease treatment and prevention, precision health aims at maintaining good health throughout the lifespan. However, how can precision health impact care for people with a terminal or life-limiting condition? We examine here the ethical, equity, and societal/relational implications of two precision health modalities, (1) integrated systems biology/multi-omics analysis for disease prognostication and (2) digital health technologies for health status monitoring and communication. We focus on three main ethical and societal considerations: benefits and risks associated with integration of these modalities into the palliative care system; inclusion of underrepresented and marginalized groups in technology development and deployment; and the impact of high-tech modalities on palliative care's highly personalized and "high-touch" practice. We conclude with 10 recommendations for ensuring that precision health technologies, such as multi-omics prognostication and digital health monitoring, for palliative care are developed, tested, and implemented ethically, inclusively, and equitably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early recognition and response to clinical deterioration reduce the frequency of in-hospital cardiac arrests, mortality, and unplanned intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the Prioritising Responses Of Nurses To deteriorating patient Observations (PRONTO) intervention on hospital costs and patient length of stay (LOS). The PRONTO cluster randomised control trial was conducted to improve nurses' responses to patients with abnormal vital signs. Hospital data were collected pre-intervention (T 0) at 6 months (T 1) and 12 months (T 2) post-intervention. The economic evaluation involved a cost-consequence analysis from the hospital's perspective. Generalised estimating equations were used to estimate the parameters for regression models of the difference in costs and LOS between study groups and time points. Hospital admission data for 6065 patients (intervention group, 3102; control group, 2963) were collected from four hospitals for T 0 , T 1 and T 2. The intervention cost was 69.61 A$ per admitted patient, including the additional intervention training for nurses and associated labour costs. The results showed cost savings and a shorter LOS in the intervention group between T 0 − T 1 and T 0 − T 2 (cost differences T 0 − T 1 : −364 (95% CI −3,782; 3049) A$ and T 0 − T 2 : −1,710 (95% CI −5,162; 1,742) A$; and LOS differences T 0 − T 1 : −1.10 (95% CI −2.44; 0.24) days and T 0 & T 2 : −2.18 (95% CI −3.53; −0.82) days). The results of the economic analysis demonstrated that the PRONTO intervention improved nurses' responses to patients with abnormal vital signs and significantly reduced hospital LOS by two days at 12 months in the intervention group compared to baseline. From the hospital's perspective, savings from reduced hospitalisations offset the costs of implementing PRONTO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Those who work in health care organisations are a potentially valuable source of information about safety concerns, yet failures of voice are persistent. We propose the concept of 'voiceable concern' and offer an empirical exploration. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study involving 165 semi-structured interviews with a range of staff (clinical, non-clinical and at different hierarchical levels) in three hospitals in two countries. Analysis was based on the constant comparative method. Results: Our analysis shows that identifying what counts as a concern, and what counts as a occasion for voice by a given individual, is not a straightforward matter of applying objective criteria. It instead often involves discretionary judgement, exercised in highly specific organisational and cultural contexts. We identified four influences that shape whether incidents, events and patterns were classified as voiceable concerns: certainty that something is wrong and is an occasion for voice; system versus conduct concerns, forgivability and normalisation. Determining what counted as a voiceable concern is not a simple function of the features of the concern; also important is whether the person who noticed the concern felt it was voiceable by them. Conclusions: Understanding how those who work in health care organisations come to recognise what counts as a voiceable concern is critical to understanding decisions and actions about speaking out. The concept of a voiceable concern may help to explain aspects of voice behaviour in organisations as well as informing interventions to improve voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of employee voice—speaking up and out about concerns—is widely recognised as fundamental to patient safety and quality of care. However, failures of voice continue to occur, often with disastrous consequences. In this article, we argue that the enduring sociological concepts of the informal organisation and formal organisation offer analytical purchase in understanding the causes of such problems and how they can be addressed. We report a qualitative study involving 165 interviews across three healthcare organisations in two high-income countries. Our analysis emphasises the interdependence of the formal and informal organisation. The formal organisation describes codified and formalised elements of structures, procedures and processes for the exercise of voice, but participants often found it frustrating, ambiguous, and poorly designed. The informal organisation—the informal practices, social connections, and methods for making decisions that are key to coordinating organisational activity—could facilitate voice through its capacity to help people to understand complex processes, make sense of their concerns, and frame them in ways likely to prompt an appropriate organisational response. Sometimes the informal organisation compensated for gaps, ambiguities and inconsistencies in formal policies and systems. At the same time, the informal organisation had a dark side, potentially subduing voice by creating informal hierarchies, prioritising social cohesion, and providing opportunities for retaliation. The formal and the informal organisation are not exclusive or independent: they interact with and mutually reinforce each other. Our findings have implications for efforts to improve culture and processes in relation to voice in healthcare organisations, pointing to the need to address deficits in the formal organisation, and to the potential of building on strengths in the informal organisation that are crucial in supporting voice. • Healthcare organisations often struggle to access and make use of employee voice. • The concept of the 'informal organisation' helps to explain and address this issue. • Some aspects of informal organisation may facilitate voice; others inhibit it. • Informal and formal organisation interact with one another in complex ways. • Interventions to improve voice should anticipate and account for these interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a growing emphasis on consumer representation in the development of health policy, services, research, and education. Existing literature has critiqued how discourses of representativeness can disempower consumers working in health systems. The context of the current study is consumer engagement in the development of COVID-19 triage policy and practice in a local health service. Consumer engagement has often been an afterthought in the COVID response, with few examples of consumers in agenda-setting or decision-making roles. In the Australian Capital Territory, 26 consumer, carer, and community groups worked together with academics and clinicians to develop these principles. Interviews were conducted with stakeholders (including consumers, clinicians, and other health professionals) to evaluate the development of triage principles. A discursive psychological approach to analysis was used to explore participants' understandings about and constructions of consumers being representative (or not) and how this may reproduce power imbalances against consumers. The results explore two distinct ways in which participants talked about consumer representativeness: the first drawing on rhetoric about consumers as lay members of the public (as distinct from being professionally engaged in the health sector), and the second in terms of consumer representatives being diverse and having intersectional identities and experiences. Expectations about consumers to be representative of the general population may reproduce traditional power imbalances and silence lived experience expertise. These power imbalances may be challenged by a shift in the way representativeness is conceptualised to requiring health services to seek out diverse and intersectionally marginalised consumers., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Objective: To describe our methodology and share the practical tools we have developed to operationalize a multidisciplinary Long COVID clinic that incorporates progressive, personalized exercise prescription as a cornerstone feature., Background: There is a lack of evidence-based guidance regarding optimal rehabilitation strategies for people with Long COVID. Existing guidelines lack precision regarding exercise dosage. As one of Australia's few established multidisciplinary Long COVID clinics, we describe our novel approach to safely incorporating exercise of both peripheral and respiratory muscles, with essential monitoring and management of post-exertional symptom exacerbation., Methods: Working closely with primary health-care providers, our multidisciplinary team screens referrals for people aged 16 and older with Long COVID. Staff apply a three tier model of triage, dependent on the consumer's presenting problems. Exercise-based interventions necessitate detailed monitoring for post-exertional symptom exacerbation both in the clinic and at home. Personalized exercise prescription includes resistance training at a submaximal threshold (4-6 exercises, 3 days/week); whole-body endurance exercise titrated to the individual's progress, at an intensity 4-6/10 (Rate of Perceived Exertion); and for those limited by dyspnoea, high-intensity inspiratory muscle training using a threshold-based handheld device (30 repetitions per day, ≥50% of their maximum inspiratory pressure)., Discussion: We have used these approaches for the past 2 years in 250 consumers with no serious adverse events and promising consumer feedback. Our exercise prescription is less conservative than the methods advocated in international guidelines for people with Long COVID, and these more progressive tools may be valuable in other contexts., Conclusion: In our experience, a multidisciplinary clinic-based approach to safely prescribing progressive exercise in Long COVID is feasible. Both peripheral and inspiratory muscle exercise can be effectively titrated to each individual's symptoms, and careful monitoring for post-exertional symptom exacerbation is crucial., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest for this work., (© 2024 Maher et al.)

Background: Whether intensive glucose control reduces mortality in critically ill patients remains uncertain. Patient-level meta-analyses can provide more precise estimates of treatment effects than are currently available., Methods: We pooled individual patient data from randomized trials investigating intensive glucose control in critically ill adults. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included survival to 90 days and time to live cessation of treatment with vasopressors or inotropes, mechanical ventilation, and newly commenced renal replacement. Severe hypoglycemia was a safety outcome., Results: Of 38 eligible trials (n=29,537 participants), 20 (n=14,171 participants) provided individual patient data including in-hospital mortality status for 7059 and 7049 participants allocated to intensive and conventional glucose control, respectively. Of these 1930 (27.3%) and 1891 (26.8%) individuals assigned to intensive and conventional control, respectively, died (risk ratio, 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.96 to 1.07; P=0.52; moderate certainty). There was no apparent heterogeneity of treatment effect on in-hospital mortality in any examined subgroups. Intensive glucose control increased the risk of severe hypoglycemia (risk ratio, 3.38; 95% CI, 2.99 to 3.83; P<0.0001)., Conclusions: Intensive glucose control was not associated with reduced mortality risk but increased the risk of severe hypoglycemia. We did not identify a subgroup of patients in whom intensive glucose control was beneficial. (Funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and others; PROSPERO number CRD42021278869.).

Objective: To identify factors influencing implementation of machine learning algorithms (MLAs) that predict clinical deterioration in hospitalized adult patients and relate these to a validated implementation framework., Materials and Methods: A systematic review of studies of implemented or trialed real-time clinical deterioration prediction MLAs was undertaken, which identified: how MLA implementation was measured; impact of MLAs on clinical processes and patient outcomes; and barriers, enablers and uncertainties within the implementation process. Review findings were then mapped to the SALIENT end-to-end implementation framework to identify the implementation stages at which these factors applied., Results: Thirty-seven articles relating to 14 groups of MLAs were identified, each trialing or implementing a bespoke algorithm. One hundred and seven distinct implementation evaluation metrics were identified. Four groups reported decreased hospital mortality, 1 significantly. We identified 24 barriers, 40 enablers, and 14 uncertainties and mapped these to the 5 stages of the SALIENT implementation framework., Discussion: Algorithm performance across implementation stages decreased between in silico and trial stages. Silent plus pilot trial inclusion was associated with decreased mortality, as was the use of logistic regression algorithms that used less than 39 variables. Mitigation of alert fatigue via alert suppression and threshold configuration was commonly employed across groups., Conclusions: : There is evidence that real-world implementation of clinical deterioration prediction MLAs may improve clinical outcomes. Various factors identified as influencing success or failure of implementation can be mapped to different stages of implementation, thereby providing useful and practical guidance for implementers., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association.)

Objective: To compare long-term psychological symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in intubated versus non-intubated ICU survivors., Design: Prospective, multicentre observational cohort study., Setting: Four tertiary medical-surgical ICUs in Australia., Participants: Intubated and non-intubated adult ICU survivors., Main Outcome Measures: Primary outcomes : clinically significant psychological symptoms at 3- and 12-month follow-up using Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome-14 for post-traumatic stress disorder; Depression, Anxiety Stress Scales-21 for depression, anxiety, and stress. Secondary outcomes : HRQOL, using EuroQol-5D-5L questionnaire., Results: Of the 133 ICU survivors, 54/116 (47 %) had at least one clinically significant psychological symptom (i.e., post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, stress) at follow-up. Clinically significant scores for psychological symptoms were observed in 26 (39 %) versus 16 (32 %) at 3-months [odds ratio 1.4, 95 % confidence interval (0.66-3.13), p = 0.38]; 23 (37 %) versus 10 (31 %) at 12-months [odds ratio 1.3, 95 % confidence interval (0.53-3.31), p = 0.57] of intubated versus non-intubated survivors, respectively. Usual activities and mobility were the most commonly affected HRQOL dimension, with >30 % at 3 versus months and >20 % at 12-months of overall survivors reporting ≥ moderate problems. There was no difference between the groups in any of the EQ5D dimensions., Conclusions: Nearly one-in-two (47 %) of the intubated and non-intubated ICU survivors reported clinically significant psychological symptoms at 3 and 12-month follow-ups. Overall, more than 30 % at 3-months and over 20 % at 12-months of the survivors in both groups had moderate or worse problems with their usual activities and mobility. The presence of psychological symptoms and HRQOL impairments was similar between the groups., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Objective: The optimal target for blood glucose concentration in critically ill patients is unclear. We will perform a systematic review and meta-analysis with aggregated and individual patient data from randomized controlled trials, comparing intensive glucose control with liberal glucose control in critically ill adults., Data Sources: MEDLINE®, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Clinical Trials, and clinical trials registries (World Health Organization, clinical trials.gov). The authors of eligible trials will be invited to provide individual patient data. Published trial-level data from eligible trials that are not at high risk of bias will be included in an aggregated data meta-analysis if individual patient data are not available., Methods: Inclusion criteria: randomized controlled trials that recruited adult patients, targeting a blood glucose of ≤ 120mg/dL (≤ 6.6mmol/L) compared to a higher blood glucose concentration target using intravenous insulin in both groups. Excluded studies: those with an upper limit blood glucose target in the intervention group of > 120mg/dL (> 6.6mmol/L), or where intensive glucose control was only performed in the intraoperative period, and those where loss to follow-up exceeded 10% by hospital discharge., Primary Endpoint: In-hospital mortality during index hospital admission. Secondary endpoints: mortality and survival at other timepoints, duration of invasive mechanical ventilation, vasoactive agents, and renal replacement therapy. A random effect Bayesian meta-analysis and hierarchical Bayesian models for individual patient data will be used., Discussion: This systematic review with aggregate and individual patient data will address the clinical question, 'what is the best blood glucose target for critically ill patients overall?'Protocol version 0.4 - 06/26/2023PROSPERO registration:CRD42021278869.

Aim(s): To explore vital sign assessment (both complete and incomplete sets of vital signs), and escalation of care per policy and nursing interventions in response to clinical deterioration., Design: This cohort study is a secondary analysis of data from the Prioritising Responses of Nurses To deteriorating patient Observations cluster randomised controlled trial of a facilitation intervention on nurses' vital sign measurement and escalation of care for deteriorating patients., Methods: The study was conducted in 36 wards at four metropolitan hospitals in Victoria, Australia. Medical records of all included patients from the study wards during three randomly selected 24-h periods within the same week were audited at three time points: pre-intervention (June 2016), and at 6 (December 2016) and 12 months (June 1017) post-intervention. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the study data, and relationships between variables were examined using chi-square test., Results: A total of 10,383 audits were conducted. At least one vital sign measurement was documented every 8 h in 91.6% of audits, and a complete set of vital signs was documented every 8 h in 83.1% of audits. There were pre-Medical Emergency Team, Medical Emergency Team or Cardiac Arrest Team triggers in 25.8% of audits. When triggers were present, a rapid response system call occurred in 26.8% of audits. There were 1350 documented nursing interventions in audits with pre-Medical Emergency Team (n = 2403) or Medical Emergency Team triggers (n = 273). One or more nursing interventions were documented in 29.5% of audits with pre-Medical Emergency Team triggers and 63.7% of audits with Medical Emergency Team triggers., Conclusion: When rapid response system triggers were documented, there were gaps in escalation of care per policy; however, nurses undertook a range of interventions within their scope of practice in response to clinical deterioration., Relevance to Clinical Practice: Medical and surgical ward nurses in acute care wards frequently engage in vital sign assessment. Interventions by medical and nurgical nurses may occur prior to, or in parallel with calling the rapid response system. Nursing interventions are a key but under-recognised element of the organisational response to deteriorating patients., Implications for the Profession And/or Patient Care: Nurses engage in a range of nursing interventions to manage deteriorating patients, (aside from rapid response system activation) that are not well understood, nor well described in the literature to date., Impact: This study addresses the gap in the literature regarding nurses' management of deteriorating patients within their scope of practice (aside from RRS activation) in real world settings. When rapid response system triggers were documented, there were gaps in escalation of care per policy; however, nurses undertook a range of interventions within their scope of practice in response to clinical deterioration. The results of this research are relevant to nurses working on medical and surgical wards., Reporting Method: The trial was reported according to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials extension for Cluster Trials recommendations, and this paper is reported according to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology Statement., Patient or Public Contribution: No Patient or Public Contribution., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe and profoundly impact the end-of-life care experience, including service provision. There is a paucity of research examining healthcare workers' experiences in responding to care demands when disasters strike. This research aimed to fill this gap by exploring end-of-life care providers' perceptions of the impact of natural disasters on end-of-life care., Methods: Between Feb 2021-June 2021 ten in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals providing end-of-life care during recent natural disasters, COVID-19, and/or fires and floods. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using a hybrid inductive and deductive thematic approach., Results: The overarching theme from the healthcare workers' accounts was of being unable to provide effective compassionate and quality care - "I can't make all this work." They spoke of the considerable burdens the system imposed on them, of being overextended and overwhelmed, having their roles overturned, and losing the human element of care for those at end-of-life., Conclusion: There is urgent need to pioneer effective solutions to minimise the distress of healthcare professionals in delivering end-of-life care in disaster contexts, and to improve the experience of those dying., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe, and place additional strains on end-of-life care services and users. Although end-of-life and palliative care are considered essential components of disaster planning and response, there are gaps in understandings about their real-life application, and how natural disasters impact end-of-life care., Objective: To synthesise existing evidence of the impacts of natural disasters (eg, bushfires, communicable pandemics, etc) on end-of-life care., Methods: A systematic review with a narrative synthesis was undertaken. The review was registered on PROSPERO (registration: CRD42020176319). PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, Science Direct and Web of Science were searched for studies published in English between 2003 and 2020, with findings explicitly mentioning end-of-life care impacts in relation to a natural disaster. Articles were appraised for quality using a JBI-QARI tool., Results: Thirty-six empirical studies met the inclusion criteria and quality assessment. Findings were synthesised into three key themes: impacts on service provision, impacts on service providers and impacts on service users. This review demonstrates that natural disasters impact profoundly on end-of-life care, representing a stark departure from a palliative care approach., Conclusions: Clinical practitioners, policy makers and researchers must continue to collaborate for viable solutions to achieve universal access to compassionate and respectful end-of-life care, during natural disasters. Using models, policies and practices already developed in palliative care, involving those most impacted in disaster planning and anticipating barriers, such as resource shortages, enables development of end-of-life care policies and practices that can be rapidly implemented during natural disasters., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated considerable changes in the delivery of pharmacy services, with pharmacists experiencing increasing demands and a high rate of burnout. The ability to categorize pharmacists based on their burnout risk and associated factors could be used to tailor burnout interventions., Objective: This study aimed to identify subgroups (profiles) of pharmacists and use these profiles to describe interventions tailored to improve pharmacist's well-being., Methods: A survey was disseminated to pharmacists working in Australia during April and June 2020. The survey measured demographics, burnout, and psychosocial factors associated with working during COVID-19. A two-step cluster analysis was used to categorize pharmacists based on burnout and other variables., Results: A total of 647 survey responses contained data that were used for analysis. Participants were mostly female (75.7%) and working full time (65.2%). The final cluster analysis yielded an acceptable two-cluster model describing 2 very different pharmacist experiences, using 10 variables. Cluster 2 (representing 53.1% of participants) describes the "affected" pharmacist, who has a high degree of burnout, works in community pharmacy, experiences incivility, is less likely to report sufficient precautionary measures in their workplace, and has had an increase in workload and overtime. In contrast, cluster 1 (representing 46.9% of participants) describes the profile of a "business as usual" hospital pharmacist with the opposite experiences. Interventions focused on the "affected" pharmacist such as financial support to employ specialized staff and equitable access to personal protective equipment should be available to community pharmacists, to reduce the risk to these frontline workers., Conclusion: The use of cluster analysis has identified 2 distinct profiles of pharmacists working during COVID-19. The "affected" pharmacist warrants targeted interventions to address the high burnout experienced in this group., (Copyright © 2022 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Many people who have survived COVID-19 have experienced negative persistent impacts on health. Impacts on health have included persistent respiratory symptoms, decreased quality of life, fatigue, impaired functional capacity, memory deficits, psychological impacts, and difficulties in returning to paid employment. Evidence is yet to be pooled to inform future directions in research and practice, to determine the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual impacts of the illness which extend beyond the acute phase of COVID-19 survivors. This umbrella review (review of systematic reviews) critically synthesized physical (including abnormal laboratory parameters), psychological, social, and spiritual impacts which extended beyond the acute phase of COVID-19 survivors. The search strategy was based on the sample, phenomena of interest, design, evaluation, research model and all publications were double screened independently by four review authors for the eligibility criteria. Data extraction and quality assessment were conducted in parallel independently. Eighteen systematic reviews were included, which represented a total of 493 publications. Sample sizes ranged from n = 15 to n = 44 799 with a total of n = 295 455 participants. There was incomplete reporting of several significant data points including the description of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variant, COVID-19 treatments, and key clinical and demographic data. A number of physical, psychological, and social impacts were identified for individuals grappling with post-COVID condition. The long term sequalae of acute COVID-19 and size of the problem is only beginning to emerge. Further investigation is needed to ensure that those affected by post-COVID condition have their informational, spiritual, psychological, social, and physical needs met in the future., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Medical Virology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: Most hospitals use physiological signs to trigger an urgent clinical review. We investigated whether facilitation could improve nurses' vital sign measurement, interpretation, treatment and escalation of care for deteriorating patients., Methods: In a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial, we randomised 36 inpatient wards at four acute hospitals to receive standard clinical practice guideline (CPG) dissemination to ward staff (n=18) or facilitated implementation for 6 months following standard dissemination (n=18). Expert, hospital and ward facilitators tailored facilitation techniques to promote nurses' CPG adherence. Patient records were audited pre-intervention, 6 and 12 months post-intervention on randomly selected days. Escalation of care as per hospital policy was the primary outcome at 6 and 12 months after implementation. Patients, nurses and assessors were blinded to group assignment. Analysis was by intention-to-treat., Results: From 10 383 audits, improved escalation as per hospital policy was evident in the intervention group at 6 months (OR 1.47, 95% CI (1.06 to 2.04)) with a complete set of vital sign measurements sustained at 12 months (OR 1.22, 95% CI (1.02 to 1.47)). There were no significant differences in escalation of care as per hospital policy between study groups at 6 or 12 months post-intervention. After adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics, a significant change from T0 in mean length of stay between groups at 12 months favoured the intervention group (-2.18 days, 95% CI (-3.53 to -0.82))., Conclusion: Multi-level facilitation significantly improved escalation as per hospital policy at 6 months in the intervention group that was not sustained at 12 months. The intervention group had increased vital sign measurement by nurses, as well as shorter lengths of stay for patients at 12 months. Further research is required to understand the dose of facilitation required to impact clinical practice behaviours and patient outcomes., Trial Registration Number: ACTRN12616000544471p., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: COVID-19 has necessitated a change to the way pharmacists are providing healthcare and has impacted the psychological wellbeing of these frontline healthcare workers., Objective: To use the job demands-resources framework of burnout to describe the experiences of pharmacists working during COVID-19., Methods: An online survey investigating burnout, psychosocial, and work-related factors affecting pharmacists during COVID-19 was distributed to a convenience sample of pharmacists practising in Australia during April and June 2020. The survey was distributed via social media and professional organisations. This study was a thematic analysis of the free-text question of the survey that asked participants to provide comment on anything they considered important. The job demands-resources framework of burnout was applied to the themes., Results: Of 647 total survey responses, 215 (33.2%) participants responded to the free text question. Thematic analysis explored the increase in demands on pharmacists with a decreased availability of resources during COVID-19. Themes associated with high demands included an increased workload, provision of education and support to the community, taking on roles traditionally performed by others, managing medication and stock supply issues, and poor consumer behaviour. Themes representing resources, which were inadequate, included feeling supported by management and colleagues, feeling adequately trained, receiving clear and consistent communication, feeling valued and appreciated, personal safety, and recovery time., Conclusions: Pharmacists have experienced increased demands and reduced resources during COVID-19 which is associated with burnout. Knowledge of these demands and resources can inform interventions at an individual, workplace, and external level. Recommendations made in this paper are aimed at increasing resources available to pharmacists., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: To test the hypothesis that Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctors and nurses differ in their personal preferences for treatment from the general population, and whether doctors and nurses make different choices when thinking about themselves, as compared to when they are treating a patient., Methods: Cross sectional, observational study conducted in 13 ICUs in Australia in 2017 using a discrete choice experiment survey. Respondents completed a series of choice sets, based on hypothetical situations which varied in the severity or likelihood of: death, cognitive impairment, need for prolonged treatment, need for assistance with care or requiring residential care., Results: A total of 980 ICU staff (233 doctors and 747 nurses) participated in the study. ICU staff place the highest value on avoiding ending up in a dependent state. The ICU staff were more likely to choose to discontinue therapy when the prognosis was worse, compared with the general population. There was consensus between ICU staff personal views and the treatment pathway likely to be followed in 69% of the choices considered by nurses and 70% of those faced by doctors. In 27% (1614/5945 responses) of the nurses and 23% of the doctors (435/1870 responses), they felt that aggressive treatment would be continued for the hypothetical patient but they would not want that for themselves., Conclusion: The likelihood of returning to independence (or not requiring care assistance) was reported as the most important factor for ICU staff (and the general population) in deciding whether to receive ongoing treatments. Goals of care discussions should focus on this, over likelihood of survival., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background COVID-19 has impacted the psychological wellbeing of healthcare workers and has forced pharmacists to adapt their services. Objective To measure burnout and describe the work and psychosocial factors affecting pharmacists during COVID-19, and to compare males and females. Setting An online survey was distributed to a convenience sample of pharmacists practicing in any setting in Australia during April and June 2020. Method The survey collected demographic data, burnout scores using the validated Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), psychosocial and work-related variables using questions adapted from previous surveys. It was tested for readability by a group of pharmacists and academic clinicians before distribution via social media and professional organisations. Main outcome measure Burnout was calculated using mean MBI scores, descriptive statistics were used to report work and psychosocial variables and Pearson's chi-square compared males and females. Results Overall, 647 responses were analysed. Most participants were female n = 487 (75.7%) with hospital n = 269 (42.2%) and community n = 253 (39.9%) pharmacists well represented. Mean (SD) for emotional exhaustion (possible range 0-54) and depersonalisation (possible range 0-30) were 28.5 (13.39) and 7.98 (5.64), which were higher (increased burnout) than reported pre-COVID-19. Personal accomplishment (range 0-48, lower scores associated with burnout) mean (SD) 36.58 (7.56), was similar to previously reported. Males reported higher depersonalisation indicating more withdrawal and cynicism. Working overtime, medication supply and patient incivility were reported to affect work. Conclusion Pharmacists are experiencing burnout, with work and psychosocial factors affecting them during COVID-19. Knowledge of this and that males experience more depersonalisation is valuable to inform advocacy and interventions to support pharmacists.

The unprecedented changes brought about by the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have had important impacts on society. The pandemic has provided an opportunity to highlight the crucial role pharmacists play in the provision of health care. The critical and unique role of pharmacists in pandemics and other disasters has been highlighted in the past (severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola outbreaks) and more recently with reports of the contributions of pharmacists during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Many reports have documented that health care professionals are experiencing significant psychological morbidity as a result of providing essential care and services during the global COVID-19 pandemic. In these reports, pharmacists are not well represented, and, therefore, it is essential to understand the impact of COVID-19 on pharmacists across multiple practice settings. This is particularly true as the experiences of pharmacists working through previous pandemics and disasters, and the associated psychological burden, are likely to offer insights and be useful in supporting the psychological well-being of pharmacists during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Research into the effect of the global COVID-19 pandemic on pharmacists should improve the understanding of the impact and the psychological morbidity associated with their role as frontline health care professionals., (Copyright © 2021 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Extracellular histones in neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) or in chromatin from injured tissues are highly pathological, particularly when liberated by DNases. We report the development of small polyanions (SPAs) (~0.9-1.4 kDa) that interact electrostatically with histones, neutralizing their pathological effects. In vitro, SPAs inhibited the cytotoxic, platelet-activating and erythrocyte-damaging effects of histones, mechanistic studies revealing that SPAs block disruption of lipid-bilayers by histones. In vivo, SPAs significantly inhibited sepsis, deep-vein thrombosis, and cardiac and tissue-flap models of ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), but appeared to differ in their capacity to neutralize NET-bound versus free histones. Analysis of sera from sepsis and cardiac IRI patients supported these differential findings. Further investigations revealed this effect was likely due to the ability of certain SPAs to displace histones from NETs, thus destabilising the structure. Finally, based on our work, a non-toxic SPA that inhibits both NET-bound and free histone mediated pathologies was identified for clinical development.

Background: Many patients in the intensive care unit are too unwell to participate in shared decision making or have not previously documented their wishes. In these situations, understanding the values of the general population could help doctors provide appropriate guidance to surrogate decision makers., Methods: Using a discrete choice experiment design, we conducted an online survey using an Australian panel. Participants were asked about their willingness to accept treatments, faced with a variety of possible outcomes and probabilities (low, moderate or high). The outcomes were across four domains: loss of functional autonomy, pain, cognitive disability and degree of burden on others. Demographic details, prior experience of intensive care unit and current health conditions were also collected. Data were analysed using logistic regression, predicting whether respondents choose to continue active treatment or not., Results: Nine hundred and eighty-four respondents, representative of age and sex completed the web-based survey. With the increasing likelihood of negative post-intensive care unit sequelae, there was a higher probability of the respondent preferring to stop ongoing active treatment, with the largest coefficients being on caring assistance and the need for full-time residential care. Those who identified as very religious, were younger or who had children under 5 years of age were more likely to choose to continue active treatment., Conclusions: Respondents valued their independence as the most important factor in deciding whether to receive ongoing medical treatments in the intensive care unit. When clinicians are unable to obtain specific patient information, they should consider framing their decision making around the likelihood of the patient achieving functional independence rather than survival.

Background: There is scant literature on the barriers to rehabilitation for patients discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) to acute care wards., Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess ward-based rehabilitation practices and barriers and assess knowledge and perceptions of ward clinicians regarding health concerns of ICU survivors., Methods, Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a single-centre survey of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals caring for ICU survivors in an Australian tertiary teaching hospital., Main Outcome Measures: The main outcome measures were knowledge of post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) amongst ward clinicians, perceptions of ongoing health concerns with current rehabilitation practices, and barriers to inpatient rehabilitation for ICU survivors., Results: The overall survey response rate was 35% (198/573 potential staff). Most respondents (66%, 126/190) were unfamiliar with the term PICS. A majority of the respondents perceived new-onset physical weakness, sleep disturbances, and delirium as common health concerns amongst ICU survivors on acute care wards. There were multifaceted barriers to patient mobilisation, with inadequate multidisciplinary staffing, lack of medical order for mobilisation, and inadequate physical space near the bed as common institutional barriers and patient frailty and cardiovascular instability as the commonly perceived patient-related barriers. A majority of the surveyed ward clinicians (66%, 115/173) would value education on health concerns of ICU survivors to provide better patient care., Conclusion: There are multiple potentially modifiable barriers to the ongoing rehabilitation of ICU survivors in an acute care hospital. Addressing these barriers may have benefits for the ongoing care of ICU survivors., (Copyright © 2019 Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Achieving shared decision-making in the intensive care unit (ICU) is challenging because of limited patient capacity, leading to a reliance on surrogate decision-makers. Prior research shows that ICU staff members often perceive that patients receive inappropriate or futile treatments while some surrogate decision-makers of patients admitted to the ICU report inadequate communication with physicians. Therefore, understanding the perceptions of both ICU staff and surrogate decision-makers around wishes for ICU treatments is an essential component to improve these situations., Objectives: The objectives of this study were to compare perceptions of ICU staff with surrogate decision-makers about the intensity and appropriateness of treatments received by patients and analyse the causes of any incongruence., Methods: A multicentred, single-day survey of staff and surrogate decision-makers of ICU inpatients was conducted across four Australian ICUs in 2014. Patients were linked to a larger prospective observational study, allowing comparison of patient outcomes., Results: Twelve of 32 patients were identified as having a mismatch between staff and surrogate decision-maker perceptions. For these 12 patients, all 12 surrogate decision-makers believed that the treatment intensity the patient was receiving was of the appropriate intensity and duration. Mismatched patients were more likely to be emergency admissions to ICU compared with nonmismatched patients (0.0% vs 42.1%, p = 0.012) and have longer ICU admissions (7.5 vs 3, p = 0.022). There were no significant differences in perceived communication (p = 0.61)., Conclusions: Family members did not share the same perceptions of treatment with ICU staff. This may result from difficulty in prognostication; challenges in conveying poor prognoses to surrogate decision-makers; and the accuracy of surrogate decision-makers., (Copyright © 2018 Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To describe the prevalence of perceptions of patients receiving a mismatch in treatment intensity, as perceived by intensive care unit (ICU) healthcare providers, and to assess the congruence of perceptions between providers., Methods: In this cross-sectional, observational study conducted in 21 ICUs in Australia and New Zealand, patient prevalence data was linked to an ICU staff survey to describe the extent to which patient treatment intensity was matched to the perceived prognosis and patient wishes., Results: Of the 307 study patients, 62 (20.2%) were reported to be receiving a mismatch in treatment intensity by at least one ICU healthcare professional. For reported mismatch, there was consensus amongst staff members for 52/62 (84%) of patients. Patients were significantly more likely to receive mismatched treatments if they were more severely unwell (APACHE II score > 20 vs. ≤ 20), odds ratio OR 2.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.63-3.37, p < 0.0001, if they were an emergency admission (OR 3.05, CI 1.18-7.89, p = 0.0212) or if they had an advance care directive (OR 3.68, 95% CI 1.66-8.16, p = 0.0013)., Conclusions: Being more severely unwell, being an emergency admission or having an advance care directive made patients more likely to be perceived as having a mismatch between the intensity of treatments provided and either the achievable goals of care, expected prognosis or patient's wishes.

Background: Mobilisation of intensive care unit (ICU) patients reduces ICU-acquired weakness and is associated with better functional outcomes. However, the prevalence of mobilisation of ICU patients remains low. A known barrier to mobilisation is haemodynamic instability, frequently with patients requiring vasoactive therapy. There is a lack of published data to guide clinicians about the safety and feasibility of mobilising patients receiving vasoactive therapy., Objectives: To describe our mobilisation practice in ICU patients receiving vasoactive therapy and identify factors associated with mobilisation and adverse events., Methods: Retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing vasoactive therapy in a 31-bed tertiary ICU (October-December, 2016). Details of vasoactive drug dosage, mobilisation, and adverse events were extracted from databases, including mobilisation intensity (ICU Mobility Scale [IMS]). Two generalised linear mixed models were used: first, to describe factors associated with mobilisation and second, to describe factors associated with adverse events during mobilisation, adjusting for age, gender, and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II score as co-variates., Results: In 119 patients undergoing vasoactive therapy on 371 cumulative vasoactive days, 195 mobilisation episodes occurred (37.5% of vasoactive days). Low (76.8%) and moderate (13.7%) dose vasoactive therapies were associated with a higher probability of mobilisation relative to high (9.4%) dose therapy (odds ratio = 5.50, 95% confidence interval = 2.23-13.59 and odds ratio = 2.50, 95% confidence interval = 0.95-6.59, respectively). For patients who mobilised on vasoactive therapy (n = 72), maximum mobilisation intensity was low (IMS = 1-2) in 31%, moderate (IMS = 3-5) in 51%, and high (IMS = 6-10) in 18% of vasoactive days. While no serious adverse events occurred, there were 14 occurrences of reversible hypotension requiring transient escalation of vasoactive therapy (7.3%), associated with lower mean arterial pressure (p = 0.001)., Conclusion: In our ICU, patients mobilised on approximately one-third of vasoactive days. Clinicians should anticipate a higher risk of hypotension during mobilisation in patients receiving vasoactive therapy, which may require transient escalation of vasoactive therapy., (Copyright © 2018 Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Mobilisation of intensive care (ICU) patients attenuates ICU-acquired weakness, but the prevalence is low (12-54%). Better understanding of barriers and enablers may inform practice., Objectives: To identify barriers to mobilisation and factors associated with successful mobilisation in our medical /surgical /trauma ICU where mobilisation is well-established., Methods: 4-week prospective study of frequency and intensity of mobilisation, clinical factors and barriers (extracted from electronic database). Generalized linear mixed models were used to describe associations between demographics, clinical factors and successful mobilisation., Results: 202 patients accounted for 742 patient days. Patients mobilised on 51% of patient days. Most frequent barriers were drowsiness (18%), haemodynamic/respiratory contraindications (17%), and medical orders (14%). Predictors of successful mobilisation included high Glasgow Coma Score (OR = 1.44, 95%CI=[1.29-1.60]), and male sex (OR = 2.29, 95%CI=[1.40-3.75]) but not age (OR = 1.05, 95%CI=[1.01-1.08])., Conclusions: Our major barriers (drowsiness, haemodynamic/respiratory contraindications) may be unavoidable, indicating an upper limit of feasible mobilisation therapy in ICU., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

One of the key recommendations of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) report, To Err is Human, 15 years ago was for greater attention to incident reporting in healthcare, analogous to the role it has played in aviation and other high-risk industries. With the passage of time and maturation of the patient safety field, we conducted semistructured interviews with 11 international patient safety experts with knowledge of the US healthcare and meeting at least one of the following criteria: (1) involved in the development of the IOM's recommendations, (2) responsible for the design and/or implementation of national or regional incident reporting systems, (3) conducted research on patient safety/incident reporting at a national level. Five key challenges emerged to explain why incident reporting has not reached its potential: poor processing of incident reports (triaging, analysis, recommendations), inadequate engagement of doctors, insufficient subsequent visible action, inadequate funding and institutional support of incident reporting systems and inadequate usage of evolving health information technology. Leading patient safety experts acknowledge the current challenges of incident reports. The future of incident reporting lies in targeted incident reporting, effective triaging and robust analysis of the incident reports and meaningful engagement of doctors. Incident reporting must be coupled with visible, sustainable action and linkage of incident reports to the electronic health record. If the healthcare industry wants to learn from its mistakes, miss or near miss events, it will need to take incident reporting as seriously as the health budget., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/)

Purpose: Young adults (18-24 years) frequently report poorer health care access and experience than older adults. We aimed to investigate how differences between young and older adults vary across 11 high-income countries., Methods: A total of 20,045 participants from 11 high-income countries (i.e., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States) participating in the Commonwealth Fund 2013 International Health Policy Survey. We compared young adults (18-24 years) with older adults (25-34; 35-49; 50-64; 65+ years) on three aspects of health care: overall satisfaction, cost barriers to access, and four indicators of consultation quality relating to adequate information, time, involvement, and explanation., Results: Across all participants, young adults reported significantly worse overall satisfaction (63.6% vs. 70.3%; p < .001) and more frequent cost barriers (21.3% vs. 15.2%; p < .001) than older adults. Country-level analyses showed that young adults reported lower overall satisfaction than older adults in five of 11 countries (Australia, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, United States) and more frequent cost barriers in six of 11 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, United States). In five countries (Australia, Canada, France, Norway, Switzerland), most patient experience indicators were less positive among young adults than those among older adults. In three countries (Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom), there was no significant difference between young and older adults on any indicator., Conclusions: Associations between age and health care access/experience varied markedly between countries, suggesting that poor access and experience among young adults is not inevitable and may be amenable to policy/practice interventions., (Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

ICU registrars frequency encounter RRT calls associated with EOLC during their training. Interventions involving EOLC appear to be some of the commonest interventions performed during RRT review. Therefore, training about the assessment an management of such calls should be provided to registrars who participate in RRT calls. The approach outlined here provides a framework for such training.

Purpose: To compare the effect of intensive versus conventional blood glucose control in patients with traumatic brain injury., Methods: In a large international randomized trial patients were randomly assigned to a target blood glucose (BG) range of either 4.5-6.0 mmol/L (intensive control) or <10 mmol/L (conventional control). Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were identified at randomization and data were collected to examine the extended Glasgow outcome score (includes mortality) at 24 months., Results: Of the 6104 randomized patients, 391 satisfied diagnostic criteria for TBI; 203 (51.9%) were assigned to intensive and 188 (48.1%) to conventional control; the primary outcome was available for 166 (81.8%) and 149 (79.3%) patients, respectively. The two groups had similar baseline characteristics. At 2 years 98 (58.7%) patients in the intensive group and 79 (53.0%) in the conventional group had a favorable neurological outcome (odds ratio [OR] 1.26, 95% CI 0.81-1.97; P = 0.3); 35 patients (20.9%) in the intensive group and 34 (22.8%) in the conventional group had died (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.53-1.53; P = 0.7); moderate hypoglycemia (BG 2.3-3.9 mmol/L; 41-70 mg/dL) occurred in 160/202 (79.2%) and 17/188 (9.0%), respectively (OR 38.3, 95% CI 21.0-70.1; P < 0.0001); severe hypoglycemia (BG ≤ 2.2 mmol/L; ≤40 mg/dL) in 10 (4.9%) and 0 (0.0%), respectively (OR 20.5 95% CI 1.2-351.6, P = 0.003)., Conclusion: Although patients with traumatic brain injury randomly assigned to intensive compared to conventional glucose control experienced moderate and severe hypoglycemia more frequently, we found no significant difference in clinically important outcomes.

Objectives: To review literature reporting adverse events and physiological instability in order to develop frameworks that describe and define clinical deterioration in hospitalised patients., Methods: Literature review of publications from 1960 to August 2012. Conception and refinement of models to describe clinical deterioration based on prevailing themes that developed chronologically in adverse event literature., Results: We propose four frameworks or models that define clinical deterioration and discuss the utility of each. Early attempts used retrospective chart review and focussed on the end result of deterioration (adverse events) and iatrogenesis. Subsequent models were also retrospective, but used discrete complications (e.g. sepsis, cardiac arrest) to define deterioration, had a more clinical focus, and identified the concept of antecedent physiological instability. Current models for defining clinical deterioration are based on the presence of abnormalities in vital signs and other clinical observations and attempt to prospectively assist clinicians in predicting subsequent risk. However, use of deranged vital signs in isolation does not consider important patient-, disease-, or system-related factors that are known to adversely affect the outcome of hospitalised patients. These include pre-morbid function, frailty, extent and severity of co-morbidity, nature of presenting illness, delays in responding to deterioration and institution of treatment, and patient response to therapy., Conclusion: There is a need to develop multiple-variable models for deteriorating ward patients similar to those used in intensive care units. Such models may assist clinician education, prospective and real-time patient risk stratification, and guide quality improvement initiatives that prevent and improve response to clinical deterioration., (Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Whether hypoglycemia leads to death in critically ill patients is unclear., Methods: We examined the associations between moderate and severe hypoglycemia (blood glucose, 41 to 70 mg per deciliter [2.3 to 3.9 mmol per liter] and ≤40 mg per deciliter [2.2 mmol per liter], respectively) and death among 6026 critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Patients were randomly assigned to intensive or conventional glucose control. We used Cox regression analysis with adjustment for treatment assignment and for baseline and postrandomization covariates., Results: Follow-up data were available for 6026 patients: 2714 (45.0%) had moderate hypoglycemia, 2237 of whom (82.4%) were in the intensive-control group (i.e., 74.2% of the 3013 patients in the group), and 223 patients (3.7%) had severe hypoglycemia, 208 of whom (93.3%) were in the intensive-control group (i.e., 6.9% of the patients in this group). Of the 3089 patients who did not have hypoglycemia, 726 (23.5%) died, as compared with 774 of the 2714 with moderate hypoglycemia (28.5%) and 79 of the 223 with severe hypoglycemia (35.4%). The adjusted hazard ratios for death among patients with moderate or severe hypoglycemia, as compared with those without hypoglycemia, were 1.41 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21 to 1.62; P<0.001) and 2.10 (95% CI, 1.59 to 2.77; P<0.001), respectively. The association with death was increased among patients who had moderate hypoglycemia on more than 1 day (>1 day vs. 1 day, P=0.01), those who died from distributive (vasodilated) shock (P<0.001), and those who had severe hypoglycemia in the absence of insulin treatment (hazard ratio, 3.84; 95% CI, 2.37 to 6.23; P<0.001)., Conclusions: In critically ill patients, intensive glucose control leads to moderate and severe hypoglycemia, both of which are associated with an increased risk of death. The association exhibits a dose-response relationship and is strongest for death from distributive shock. However, these data cannot prove a causal relationship. (Funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and others; NICE-SUGAR ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00220987.).

Background: Planning for the treatment of infection with the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus through health care systems in developed countries during winter in the Northern Hemisphere is hampered by a lack of information from similar health care systems., Methods: We conducted an inception-cohort study in all Australian and New Zealand intensive care units (ICUs) during the winter of 2009 in the Southern Hemisphere. We calculated, per million inhabitants, the numbers of ICU admissions, bed-days, and days of mechanical ventilation due to infection with the 2009 H1N1 virus. We collected data on demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients and on treatments and outcomes., Results: From June 1 through August 31, 2009, a total of 722 patients with confirmed infection with the 2009 H1N1 virus (28.7 cases per million inhabitants; 95% confidence interval [CI], 26.5 to 30.8) were admitted to an ICU in Australia or New Zealand. Of the 722 patients, 669 (92.7%) were under 65 years of age and 66 (9.1%) were pregnant women; of the 601 adults for whom data were available, 172 (28.6%) had a body-mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) greater than 35. Patients infected with the 2009 H1N1 virus were in the ICU for a total of 8815 bed-days (350 per million inhabitants). The median duration of treatment in the ICU was 7.0 days (interquartile range, 2.7 to 13.4); 456 of 706 patients (64.6%) with available data underwent mechanical ventilation for a median of 8 days (interquartile range, 4 to 16). The maximum daily occupancy of the ICU was 7.4 beds (95% CI, 6.3 to 8.5) per million inhabitants. As of September 7, 2009, a total of 103 of the 722 patients (14.3%; 95% CI, 11.7 to 16.9) had died, and 114 (15.8%) remained in the hospital., Conclusions: The 2009 H1N1 virus had a substantial effect on ICUs during the winter in Australia and New Zealand. Our data can assist planning for the treatment of patients during the winter in the Northern Hemisphere., (2009 Massachusetts Medical Society)

Background: The optimal target range for blood glucose in critically ill patients remains unclear., Methods: Within 24 hours after admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), adults who were expected to require treatment in the ICU on 3 or more consecutive days were randomly assigned to undergo either intensive glucose control, with a target blood glucose range of 81 to 108 mg per deciliter (4.5 to 6.0 mmol per liter), or conventional glucose control, with a target of 180 mg or less per deciliter (10.0 mmol or less per liter). We defined the primary end point as death from any cause within 90 days after randomization., Results: Of the 6104 patients who underwent randomization, 3054 were assigned to undergo intensive control and 3050 to undergo conventional control; data with regard to the primary outcome at day 90 were available for 3010 and 3012 patients, respectively. The two groups had similar characteristics at baseline. A total of 829 patients (27.5%) in the intensive-control group and 751 (24.9%) in the conventional-control group died (odds ratio for intensive control, 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.28; P=0.02). The treatment effect did not differ significantly between operative (surgical) patients and nonoperative (medical) patients (odds ratio for death in the intensive-control group, 1.31 and 1.07, respectively; P=0.10). Severe hypoglycemia (blood glucose level, < or = 40 mg per deciliter [2.2 mmol per liter]) was reported in 206 of 3016 patients (6.8%) in the intensive-control group and 15 of 3014 (0.5%) in the conventional-control group (P<0.001). There was no significant difference between the two treatment groups in the median number of days in the ICU (P=0.84) or hospital (P=0.86) or the median number of days of mechanical ventilation (P=0.56) or renal-replacement therapy (P=0.39)., Conclusions: In this large, international, randomized trial, we found that intensive glucose control increased mortality among adults in the ICU: a blood glucose target of 180 mg or less per deciliter resulted in lower mortality than did a target of 81 to 108 mg per deciliter. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00220987.), (2009 Massachusetts Medical Society)

Objective: To determine the frequency of monitoring of patient vital signs in two wards of a tertiary hospital., Methods: A retrospective observational study of patient charts from two wards was conducted for a 48-hour period (Sunday and Monday, 23 and 24 October 2005). All vital sign readings from all patient charts were collected., Results: 1597 unique vital signs were recorded in 62 patients. Frequency of documentation was significantly lower for respiratory rate than for all other vital sign measurements: respiratory rate, 1.0 reading/day, versus blood pressure, 5.0 readings/day; heart rate, 4.4 readings/ day; and temperature, 4.2 readings/day (P < 0.001 for all comparisons). Comparisons between blood pressure, heart rate and temperature frequency measurements showed no statistical differences, but there were significant differences in overall collection frequency between the medical and the surgical ward (3.0 v 5.0 readings/day, P < 0.001)., Conclusion: Blood pressure, heart rate and temperature were the most diligently recorded vital signs, but documentation of respiratory rate was poor. Failure to perform vital sign measurements may underpin the failure to recognise patients in general wards whose condition is deteriorating.