Active clinical trials for "Critical Illness"

This study will identify the changes in different muscles of patients receiving Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) during critical illness and admission to Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The information will help guide development of treatments such as exercise that may help to reduce the amount of muscle wasting that can occur during critical illness.

Muscle wasting is a significant problem in critically ill patients, with reported losses of a half to three percent per day over the first ten days (for an average 70kg person this equates to 3 to 20kg of muscle loss). Low skeletal muscle mass at admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and the loss of lean tissue have been associated with negative clinical outcomes, including increased incidence of infections, length of stay, mortality and muscle weakness. It is therefore crucial that technology is utilised to: 1) identify ICU patients with low muscularity on admission, 2) to help understand the factors impacting muscle loss and to 3) assess the effectiveness of interventions aimed at maintaining skeletal muscle mass in this population. The measurement of lean body mass in patients admitted to the ICU is challenging however, due to the large fluid shifts that occur in this population and logistical issues in moving patients to specialised machinery for body composition analysis. Currently, there is no validated method for accurately assessing a patient's muscle mass at the bedside in the intensive care setting. It is therefore important to investigate the accuracy, feasibility and reliability of bedside methods such as subjective physical assessment of muscle mass, mid arm muscle circumference, ultrasound and bioimpedance analysis to assess muscularity in this population who are primarily bedbound. In order to do this, a critical comparison is required between these methods and muscularity assessed by a "reference" body composition method, such computed tomography (CT) image analysis. Briefly, quantification of skeletal muscle at the abdomen area utilising abdominal CT images has been shown to be highly representative of whole body skeletal muscle volume. We wish to conduct a pilot, feasibility study (n= 50), which will recruit patients who have a CT scan (containing abdomen area), performed for clinical purposes. Our primary aim will be to investigate whether muscularity assessed with non-invasive bedside methods (ultrasound, bioimpedance analysis, SGA physical assessment, mid arm muscle circumference) are correlated with skeletal muscle mass quantified by a "reference method" (CT image analysis).

This is a prospective monocenter, non-randomised, open-lable single-group intervention diagnostic trial on the accuracy, reliability and feasibility of the continuous glucose monitoring system in critically systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Newly developed technologies for continuous glucose monitoring in critically SLE patients may improve glycemic control and reduce glucose variability. Critically SLE patients will be performed by continuous glucose monitoring. The subcutaneous glucose will be continuously monitored in critical SLE patients by freestyle libre glucose monitoring system for 14 days. The aim of this study is to evaluate accuracy feasibility and acceptance of these methods. To analyze accuracy sensor glucose levels will be validated due to venous blood measurements with glucose oxidase methods. The influence of several factors like oedema, perspiration, BMI, body temperature, pH-value application of vasoconstrictors on accuracy and feasibility of the particular system would be evaluated. Furthermore the acceptance of physicians and Nursing staff would be evaluated by a questionnaire.

The purpose of this pilot study is to improve inpatient monitoring of severely-ill children admitted to the hospital in low resource settings at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Given the high ratio of patients to medical staff in these settings, the lack of reliable patient monitoring tools, and the high rate of early inpatient mortality, we will prospectively train parents as monitoring aids of their hospitalized children. Early recognition and intervention in critical illness is important to avoid (further) organ failure. Parents will be taught how to assess their child's mental status, work of breathing and capillary refill time which will inform a 3-point severity of illness scale. The severity of illness will be conveyed by the parents to the medical staff via color-coded flag system. The goal is to increase the healthcare provider patient reassessment rate according to patients' level of severity to assist in early recognition and treatment of patients' deterioration.

Many patients who are admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) experience muscle weakness. This muscle weakness occurs whilst patients are unconscious, immobile in bed and on a breathing machine (ventilator). It can develop very quickly, as soon as they become unwell. The investigators know that this weakness can make it harder for patients to regain their normal level of functional ability, such as standing and walking independently. Physical rehabilitation, delivered by physiotherapists, is important for patients as they recover from their critical illness to help them regain strength and to practice the ability to perform physical activities. These activities include sitting on the edge of the bed, standing, stepping on the spot and walking. However it is difficult to know how hard it is for patients who are recovering from critical illness to perform these types of activities - in other words, how much energy is required. Some patients may find certain activities harder or easier than others. By knowing the energy requirements of patients whilst they take part in different physical rehabilitation activities, physiotherapists may be able to be more accurate with prescribing exercises and designing rehabilitation sessions for patients to practice achieving those activities. In this study, the investigators will measure the energy requirements of the patients when they take part in physiotherapy-led physical rehabilitation they will have during their admission. To do this, the investigators will use a different ventilator to the one normally used to help their breathing. This ventilator works in exactly the same way, but has an extra component built into it to measure energy requirements. After the rehabilitation session, the patient will return to using their normal ventilator.

The care of critically ill patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) is an important part of modern health care systems. However, ICU care suffers from similar problems as the rest of the health care system. Powerful arguments support the concept that most of problems in complex systems, such as ICUs, relates to flaws in institutional systems and processes that hinder the ability of individuals to perform their jobs well. To fix these problems, the defective systems and processes must be redesigned in ways that make it easy for people to do their job well, and hard to make mistakes. Altering the structure of ICU care for the purpose of improving ICU performance is an example of Organizational Systems Engineering, alternatively called Total Quality Management. Another serious problem in ICU care is that after 2007 there will be a increasing shortage of physicians specializing in the care of the critically ill (Intensivists), with a 35% shortfall by 2030. One contributor to this shortage is that Intensivists retire at a younger age than do physicians in general, and often curtail their care of critically ill patients even before they retire. It is likely that the emotional and physical demands of this career choice leads Intensivists to "burn out" and leave the field prematurely. For these reasons it is important to find ways to make working as an Intensivist more sustainable so that the most experienced practitioners will continue in the field up to a normal retirement age. The way in which groups of Intensivists organize themselves to provide care in an ICU is highly variable. One potentially important way in which Intensivist staffing differs is in the degree of continuity of care. The more days in a row that the same physician cares for a patient the greater the continuity of care. While it is generally held that a higher continuity of care results in better care and better outcomes for patients, in fact there are no studies addressing this issue. On the other side of the coin however, it seems likely that working many days in a row increases the physical and emotional burdens on the Intensivist, increasing job distress and job burnout over time. A common pattern of Intensivist staffing, in which continuity of care is reduced, is when the Intensivist who is caring for ICU patients during the weekdays has the weekend off, during which one of his/her partners provides "cross-coverage". While it is reasonable to hypothesize that cross-coverage would lead to inefficient patient care, at the same time it may reduce the burdens on the Intensivists. This purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of weekend cross-coverage on both ICU patients and on Intensivists. This will be a multicenter study performed in 4 member institutions of the Midwest Critical Care Consortium: The University of Toledo, MetroHealth Medical Center, Ohio State University, and Indiana University. Five adult medical ICUs from the six institutions will participate in this study, with two ICUs from the Ohio State University site. To answer the research questions, each participating ICU will alternate between two common models of Intensivist staffing. In both models an Intensivist is responsible for ICU care for 14 days. In the Continuous model, a single Intensivist will be responsible for all 14 days. In the Discontinuous model, both weekends during the 14 days will be cross-covered by a colleague. Continuity of care is higher in the Continuous model, which has 2 physician transitions over a 4 week period, while the Discontinuous model has 8 transitions per 4 weeks. Each participating ICU will use one model for 12 weeks, then switch to the other model for 12 weeks, and finally revert back to the first model for the final 12 weeks of this 36 week study. To address problems of historical controls, seasonal differences, and to increase comparability of groups, the participating ICUs have been randomly assigned to begin the study either with the Continuous or Discontinuous model. Comparisons will be made between the two scheduling models in: (1) patient outcomes, specifically hospital mortality rate, ICU length of stay, and hospital length of stay, and (2) Intensivist outcomes, specifically job distress, job burnout, and the balance between work and home life. Since there is currently nothing known about whether weekend cross-coverage influences medical care, both models of care are common in ICUs. Thus the investigators expect that the findings of this study will have general relevance. While the patients admitted to the participating ICUs during this study would not be expected to benefit from this investigation, the results derived are expected to enable policy makers to make evidence-based decisions about this important aspect of ICU physician staffing and thus improve the performance and/or cost-effectiveness of ICU care, benefiting future ICU patients, and society.

The ability to measure cardiac output (CO) accurately and reproducibly at frequent intervals remains elusive to the clinician caring for critically ill pediatric patients even though a large proportion of these children are known to have hemodynamic compromise as a result of their illness. Current techniques used in adults to measure CO are not suitable for routine use with pediatric patients. A new ultrasound dilution approach provides an opportunity to measure cardiac output and blood volumes in pediatric patients. The main aim of this study is to compare CO measured by the new method with the clinician's estimate and implied CO from the measurement of the arteriovenous oxygen content difference.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether subcutaneous continuous glucose monitoring in critically ill patients is clinically feasible accurate and reliable.

This study provides training opportunities for critical care specialists in evaluating and treating critically ill patients. Patients enrolled in the study receive standard tests and treatments. The study objectives are to: Provide additional training for staff of the NIH Clinical Center intensive care unit, including physicians, nurses, fellows, and other trainees so that they develop and maintain essential skills, Gather information about the natural history and outcomes of critical illness, accompanying conditions, and complications, Develop hypotheses about the medical problems involved in the illnesses and their treatment, and Identify critically ill patients who may be eligible for specific NIH research protocols. Critically ill patients 18 years of age and older who may benefit by transferring to the NIH Clinical Center for treatment may be eligible for this study. Patients will be transferred to the Clinical Center from another hospital only when the referring and accepting physicians in both institutions agree that the potential benefit of coming to the NIH outweighs the risk of transferring the patient. Participants are evaluated and treated at the Clinical Center. Patients provide a medical history and have a physical examination. They may also have various medical tests and procedures needed to evaluate their condition. These procedures may include blood work, placement of an intravenous (IV) line, x-rays and other imaging tests such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other procedures. Patients who are diagnosed with a specific condition may be offered treatment or may be referred to another study that is more appropriate for that particular problem.

An appropriate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response is required to survive critical illness. Primary adrenal insufficiency, relative adrenal insufficiency, tissue resistance to glucocorticoids, ACTH deficiency and immune-mediated inhibition of the HPA axis may impair the secretion or action of glucocorticoids in critically ill patients. Adrenal insufficiency is estimated to occur in up to 77% of critically ill patients, but currently, there is no consensus on the diagnostic criteria for adrenal insufficiency in this setting, and standard testing does not discriminate among the aforementioned factors. We will study the incidence and natural history of adrenal insufficiency in critically ill patients to further define adrenal insufficiency and provide data to develop diagnostic tests. Clinical features and outcomes will be correlated with laboratory measurements of hormones, cytokines and glucocorticoid action. Healthy volunteers will undergo cortrosyn tests with measurement of free cortisol levels to develop a normative range for this endpoint. <TAB> Previous glucocorticoid use, if prolonged and supraphysiologic, also inhibits the HPA and can result in adrenal insufficiency. Patients with short intermittent courses of glucocorticoid administration have not been studied well, and may also be at risk. To gain further information about this group, patients receiving pulse glucocorticoid doses as part of bone marrow transplant regimens at the Clinical Center will also be studied. ...