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OBJECTIVE: To determine whether extreme obesity (morbid obesity; body mass index > or =40 kg/m(2)) is an independent risk factor for death among critically ill patients; this objective is most salient in the subset of patients who sustain a prolonged intensive care unit stay during which the burdens of care imposed by obesity and its consequences would become most apparent. DESIGN: Cohort analysis of data from the Project Impact database used to catalog admissions and outcomes to a surgical intensive care unit, with predetermined end point analyses of outcomes. SETTING: Surgical intensive care unit serving Tufts-New England Medical Center, a tertiary care and university medical center in Boston. PATIENTS: All critically ill surgical patients admitted to the Tufts-New England Medical Center surgical intensive care unit from January 1998 to March 2001. INTERVENTIONS: Intensive care unit and hospital mortality and lengths of stay were compared with body mass index subclassified into five groups: underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese, and extremely obese. Data were examined for all admissions during the study period and for a predetermined subgroup with a prolonged intensive care unit stay (> or =4 days). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The prevalence of obesity in the surgical intensive care unit was 26.7%; extreme obesity was observed in 6.8%. In the full cohort of patients (n = 1373), median length of stay was short (2 days) and there were no differences in mortality in patients among any of the body mass index classes. In the subgroup of prolonged stay patients (n = 406), intensive care unit and hospital mortality rates were significantly increased in extremely obese patients compared with all other patients (intensive care unit, 33.3% vs. 12.3%, p = .009; hospital, 33.3% vs. 16%, p = .045). Multivariate analysis showed that extreme obesity was an independent predictor of death in surgical critically ill patients with prolonged intensive care unit stay after controlling for age, gender, and severity of illness. The odds of death increased 7.4 times in patients with morbid obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Morbid obesity (body mass index > or =40 kg/m(2)) is an independent risk factor for death in surgical patients with catastrophic illness requiring prolonged intensive care. The prevalence of obesity is growing, both in the intensive care unit and in the general population. The increased risk of complications and death in this population mandates that we adapt customized processes of care to specifically address this unique and very challenging subset of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Hand hygiene is an effective, low-cost intervention that prevents the spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Despite mandatory education and reminders, compliance by physicians in our hospital remained stubbornly low. Our objective was to study whether surveillance by our unit coordinator (secretary) paired with regular feedback to chiefs of service would increase physician hand hygiene compliance in the ICU., Method: The ICU unit coordinator was trained to observe and measure hand hygiene compliance. Data were collected on hand hygiene compliance at room entry and exit for 9 months. Percentage compliance for each medical and surgical subspecialty was reported to chiefs of service at the end of each month. Comparative rankings by service were widely distributed throughout the physician organization and the medical center., Results: The hand hygiene compliance rate among physicians increased from 65.1% to 91.6% during the study period (p < 0.0001). More importantly in the succeeding 24 months after study completion, physician hand hygiene compliance remained >90% in every month., Conclusions: Physician hand hygiene compliance increased as a consequence of the surveillance conducted by a full-time ICU team member, leading to a highly significant increase in the number of observations. In turn, this allowed for specific comparative monthly feedback to individual chiefs of service. Over the next 2 years after the study ended, these gains were sustained, suggesting an enduring culture change in physician behavior.

Objective: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection is a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients worldwide. Numerous healthcare bodies in Europe and the United States have championed active surveillance per the "search and destroy" model. However, this strategy is associated with significant economic, logistical, and patient costs without any impact on other hospital-acquired pathogens. We evaluated whether horizontal infection control strategies could decrease the prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus infection in the ICU, without the need for active surveillance., Design and Setting: Retrospective, observational study in the surgical ICU of a tertiary care medical center in Boston, MA, from 2005 to 2012., Patients: A total of 6,697 patients in the surgical ICU., Interventions: Evidence-based infection prevention strategies were implemented in an iterative fashion, including 1) hand hygiene program with refresher education campaign, 2) chlorhexidine oral hygiene program, 3) chlorhexidine bathing, 4) catheter-associated bloodstream infection program, and 5) daily goals sheets., Measurements and Main Results: The prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus infection fell from 2.66 to 0.69 per 1,000 patient days from 2005 to 2012, an average decrease of 21% per year. The biggest decline in rate of infection was detected in 2008, which may suggest that the catheter-associated bloodstream infection prevention program was particularly effective. Among 4,478 surgical ICU admissions over the last 5 years, not a single case of methicillin-resistant S. aureus bacteremia was observed., Conclusions: Aggressive multifaceted horizontal infection control is an effective strategy for reducing the prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus infection and eliminating methicillin-resistant S. aureus bacteremia in the ICU without the need for active surveillance and decontamination.

Stress hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia are associated with increased morbidity and mortality in the critically ill. Intermittent, random blood glucose (BG) measurements can miss episodes of hyper- and hypoglycemia. The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of the Symphony® continuous glucose monitor (CGM) in critically ill cardiac surgery patients. Fifteen adult cardiac surgery patients were evaluated immediately postoperatively in the intensive care unit. Prelude® SkinPrep prepared the skin and a sensor was applied to 2 test sites on each subject to monitor interstitial fluid glucose. Reference BG was sampled at 30- to 60-minute intervals. The skin at the test sites was inspected for adverse effects. Accuracy of the retrospectively analyzed CGM data relative to reference BG values was determined using continuous glucose-error grid analysis (CG-EGA) and mean absolute relative difference (MARD). Using 570 Symphony CGM glucose readings paired with reference BG measurements, CG-EGA showed that 99.6% of the readings were within zones A and B. BG measurements ranged from 73 to 251 mg/dL. The MARD was 12.3%. No adverse device effects were reported. The Symphony CGM system is able to safely, continuously, and noninvasively monitor glucose in the transdermal interstitial fluid of cardiac surgery intensive care unit patients with accuracy similar to that reported with other CGM systems. Future versions of the system will need real-time data analysis, fast warm-up, and less frequent calibrations to be used in the clinical setting., (© 2014 Diabetes Technology Society.)

Objective: To determine whether glycemic derangements are more effectively controlled using software-guided insulin dosing compared with paper-based protocols., Patients and Methods: We prospectively evaluated consecutive critically ill patients treated in a tertiary hospital surgical intensive care unit (ICU) between January 1 and June 30, 2008, and between January 1 and September 30, 2009. Paper-based protocol insulin dosing was evaluated as a baseline during the first period, followed by software-guided insulin dosing in the second period. We compared glycemic metrics related to hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, and glycemic variability during the 2 periods., Results: We treated 110 patients by the paper-based protocol and 87 by the software-guided protocol during the before and after periods, respectively. The mean ICU admission blood glucose (BG) level was higher in patients receiving software-guided intensive insulin than for those receiving paper-based intensive insulin (181 vs 156 mg/dL; P=.003, mean of the per-patient mean). Patients treated with software-guided intensive insulin had lower mean BG levels (117 vs 135 mg/dL; P=.0008), sustained greater time in the desired BG target range (95-135 mg/dL; 68% vs 52%; P=.0001), had less frequent hypoglycemia (percentage of time BG level was <70 mg/dL: 0.51% vs 1.44%; P=.04), and showed decreased glycemic variability (BG level per-patient standard deviation from the mean: ±29 vs ±42 mg/dL; P=.01)., Conclusion: Surgical ICU patients whose intensive insulin infusions were managed using the software-guided program achieved tighter glycemic control and fewer glycemic derangements than those managed with the paper-based insulin dosing regimen., (Copyright © 2013 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Obesity is an increasing burden globally. In the general population, the obese have an increased mortality risk. Regarding the critically ill, a growing body of literature supports the obesity paradox, the notion that obesity confers a protective effect in certain disease states. However, the paucity of methodologically sound trials prevents definitive interpretation and may obscure risks.

Tight glycemic control has engendered large numbers of investigations, with conflicting results. The world has largely embraced intensive insulin as a practice, but applies this therapy with great variability in the manner of glucose control and measurement. The present commentary reviews what we actually know with certainty from this vast sea of literature, and what we can expect looking forward.

Background: We tested the hypothesis that glucose can be measured continuously and reliably in patients in diverse settings using a transdermal biosensor coupled to a permeated skin site. In addition, we compared a novel, abrasion-based skin permeation method to an ultrasound-based method for transdermal continuous glucose monitoring., Method: Transdermal continuous glucose monitors were applied to patients with diabetes (study I), patients undergoing cardiac surgery (study II), and healthy volunteers (study III). Reference blood glucose measurements were performed with glucometers or standard blood glucose analyzers. At the conclusion of the 24-hour study, data were postprocessed for comparison with the reference blood glucose values collected during the study period., Results: Data were validated for 10 subjects for 12 hours in study I, 8 subjects for 24 hours in study II, and 6 subjects in study III. The transdermal continuous glucose monitors usually required 1 hour of warm up. Depending on the study setting, single or multiple calibrations were applied to the datasets. Comparing predicted glucose versus reference blood glucose values, we found that study I yielded 89.6% in zone A and 9.0% in zone B in the Clarke error grid (222 data points), study II yielded 86.4% in zone A and 13.6% in zone B (147 data points), and study III yielded 89.9% in zone A and 10.1% in zone B (378 data points)., Conclusions: Continuous transdermal glucose monitoring was demonstrated successfully in diverse clinical settings. The performance of abrasion was equivalent to ultrasound skin permeation methodology for transdermal glucose monitoring.

Background: We sought to review the literature describing the benefits of tight glycemic control in critically ill patients, comparing outcome differences in subgroup populations., Methods: We searched PubMed for relevant literature on the topic of hyperglycemia and its management in the intensive care unit., Results: Overwhelming evidence in both surgical and medical patients conclusively demonstrates that hyperglycemia is a marker of severity of illness and is also an independent determinant of bad outcome, largely from infectious complications. Randomized trial evidence, in conjunction with historically controlled trials, supports the use of intensive insulin therapy and euglycemic control in critically ill patients, with nondiabetics possibly benefiting even more than diabetic patients. Euglycemia is best achieved, and hypoglycemia attenuated, through use of a protocolized approach. Further elaboration as to what threshold range defines euglycemia in patient subpopulations is needed and what pitfalls must be avoided in this practice. Development of continuous blood glucose monitoring has started and will someday be incorporated into routine practice in the same way that continuous electrocardiographic monitoring and pulse oximetry are standards of care in the intensive care unit., Conclusions: Hyperglycemia is a predictor of death and complications in critically ill patients. Early aggregated study results show that control of hyperglycemia improves outcomes. Well-designed studies involving thousands of patients have started to better elucidate the concomitant promoters of hyperglycemia and to better quantify the benefits from tight glycemic control.

Objective: To describe outcomes of septic shock and multiple organ failure arising from candidemia., Design: Secondary cohort analysis of data from the placebo arm of the North American Septic Shock Trial (NORASEPT II), the largest prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled multiple center study of septic shock conducted to date, with predetermined end point analysis of outcomes., Setting: Adult intensive care units in 105 hospitals in the United States and Canada., Subjects: A cohort of ten purely candidemic patients in septic shock were compared with a cohort of 376 purely bacteremic patients in septic shock. Patients were not immunocompromised, because patients on corticosteroids, with neutropenia, or posttransplantation were excluded from enrollment in NORASEPT II., Measurements and Main Results: Demographic variables, baseline characteristics, 28-day mortality rates, and multiple organ failure were compared for the two cohorts. Candidemic patients were more likely to have a history of underlying renal failure at baseline and to require dialysis at onset of septic shock. Both causes of septic shock are associated with an extremely high severity of illness (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II: candidemic septic shock, 32 +/- 10; bacteremic septic shock, 30 +/- 8; p =.44). More than 70% of patients with candidemia and septic shock were in multiple organ failure at days 3, 7, and 14; patients with candidemic septic shock sustained persistent multiple organ failure and showed delayed recovery from multiple organ failure compared with patients with bacteremic septic shock. Mortality rate at 28 days was 60% in candidemic septic shock and 46% in bacteremic septic shock (p =.38)., Conclusions: Candidemia with septic shock is infrequent in nonimmunocompromised patients but has a very high mortality rate, a high likelihood of associated multiple organ failure, and possibly a delayed recovery from multiple organ failure. Patients with candidemic septic shock are more likely to have underlying renal failure at baseline.

The surgical patient with prolonged critical illness usually has a higher severity of illness on ICU admission, and is destined for greater morbidity, debilitation, and poorer hospital and long-term survival. Care of those with obesity is particularly difficult. Only with meticulous attention to detail and refined, dedicated, multidisciplinary processes of care, preferably assisted by protocolization, can these patients sustain any hope of recovery to acceptable functionality.

Current choices for sustained sedation in the critically ill include the benzodiazepines, the opiates, and propofol. Each of these groups of medications has their particular benefits: benzodiazepines provide the greatest amnesia, opiates are the only agents to provide analgesia, and propofol is the most easily titratable and the least likely to excessively accrue. The literature seems to favor propofol over the benzodiazepines as the most cost-effective solution to sustained sedation. A newly approved agent, dexmedetomidine, holds promise as a continuous infusion that can provide both anxiolysis and analgesia, but without the ventilatory depression seen in the other classes of sedatives. Further research is needed to determine the role of dexmedetomidine in the ICU. The emerging standard of care for sustained sedation is the use of standardized protocols, formulated with the help of clinical practice guidelines, and titrated with the guidance of sedation monitoring.

As the population ages and as surgical and anesthetic techniques advance, more and more elderly patients are referred for surgery. As a result, the physician must be increasingly aware of the aged response to surgery and the management of the geriatric surgical patient in the perioperative period. Elderly patients are prone to cardiac, respiratory, and infectious complications, and thus, they need to be screened for the presence of pre-existing disease. In addition, the geriatric patient needs to be carefully monitored in the proper postoperative environment to guard against untoward sequelae.