Active clinical trials for "Critical Illness"

Since critically ill patients are exposed to stressful conditions, the investigators evaluated the effectiveness of a multicomponent program to reduce perceived discomforts in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) .

Daptomycin is an antibiotic that is affective against many strains of antibiotic resistant microorganisms. This antibiotic would be appropriate for use in the intensive care unit (ICU) considering the severity of illness and high risk for infection within this hospital environment. While in the ICU, patients may develop acute renal failure. Approximately 75% of ICU patients who develop acute renal failure will require some form of renal replacement therapy until their kidneys recover. Continuous hemodialysis is becoming one of the most common forms of dialysis in the ICU as it is a gentle type of dialysis provided over longer periods of time. The current data demonstrating the ability of continuous hemodialysis to remove daptomycin from the body is derived from in-vitro trials. The purpose of this trial is to determine the extent of daptomycin removal from critically ill patients receiving continuous hemodialysis. Findings from this trial will be used to develop new dosing recommendations for daptomycin in continuous hemodialysis.

Little is known about the procedure of extubation of patients admitted in Intensive Care Units (ICU). In particular, effects of tracheal suction during extubation have never been evaluated. Tracheal suction induces alveolar derecruitment in sedated patients under mechanical ventilation and is a major source of pain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of tracheal suction during the extubation procedure of critically ill patients on the end-expiratory lung volume.

In this study, it was aimed to compare the effects of three different PEEP levels (0-4, 5-8, 9-12 cmH2O) on intraabdominal pressure and hemodynamic parameters of patients in intensive care unit.

Overutilization of intensive care unit (ICU) treatments among patients with advanced medical illnesses and poor prognosis places them at risk for prolonged suffering with minimal anticipated benefit. Improving communication and shared decision-making between providers and patients/family members represents an opportunity to reduce potentially non-beneficial treatments. Time limited trials (TLTs) are agreements between clinicians and patients/surrogate decision-makers to use medical therapies over a defined period of time to observe if patients improve or deteriorate according to agreed-upon clinical outcomes. The objective of this project is to examine whether a quality improvement intervention that uses protocoled time limited trials as the default ICU communication/care planning strategy for patients with advanced medical illnesses will decrease the duration and intensity of non-beneficial ICU treatments without changing hospital mortality.

The investigators propose to conduct a feasibility, multi-centre, randomised controlled trial of targeted oxygen therapy in adult critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation via an endotracheal tube as part of their treatment for respiratory failure. Participants will be allocated to either a normal blood oxygen target group or a lower than normal blood oxygen target group. The primary purpose of the study will be to assess the feasibility of recruiting complex patients who lack capacity into a clinical trial in which oxygenation is being assessed, and that the clinicians responsible for these patients are able to deliver the intervention effectively. The safety of using a lower than normal blood oxygen target will also be assessed and blood samples taken for subsequent investigation of the biological mechanisms underlying the observed changes. Participants will be randomised (1:1) into either an intervention or control group. The intervention in this trial is tightly controlled administration of oxygen to patients to achieve a haemoglobin oxygen saturation (SpO2) of 88-92%. The control group will also have tightly controlled oxygen administration, but to achieve an SpO2 of 96% or above. The target for the control group represents a normal SpO2, whilst that in the intervention group is lower than what is considered to be normal. It should be noted that although lower than normal, this SpO2 is close to what the general public experience when travelling by pressurised aircraft as the fractional inspired oxygen concentration in that situation is only 0.15-0.17 (15-17%). The controlled oxygen administration would commence as soon as possible after admission to the critical care unit and end following removal of the participant's artificial breathing tube. The researchers and clinical team cannot be blinded to treatment allocation, due to the nature of the intervention. Those analysing the data will be blinded to the intervention.

This is a pragmatic, stepped-wedge, cluster randomized trial testing the real-world effectiveness of two different electronic health record (EHR) behavioral interventions in improving a number of patient- and family-centered processes and outcomes of care among seriously ill hospitalized patients. The investigators hypothesize that outcomes can be improved without raising costs by requiring intensive care unit clinicians to (i) document a prognostic estimate and (ii) provide a justification if they choose not to offer patients the option of comfort-oriented care. To test this hypothesis the investigators will conduct a 33-month trial at 17 intensive care units in 10 hospitals using the same Cerner EHR within Atrium Health System.

The purpose of this study is to test the effectiveness of a multi-faceted communication intervention for family members of critically ill patients to reduce the family members' long-term symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Critically ill, ventilator-treated patients rapidly loose much of their muscle mass and strength. This can attribute to prolonged admission, prolonged mechanical ventilation, increased mortality and might have a negative impact on the physical function, degree of independence and quality of life. The pathophysiological background for the loss of muscle mass as well as possible effective treatment is still not well established. In the NONSEDA-trial we randomise critically ill patients to non-sedation or sedation with a daily wake-up trial during mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU). It has never been assessed whether non-sedation reduces the loss of muscle mass and strength. Aim: To assess the effects of non-sedation versus sedation with a daily wake-up trial on physical function after discharge from ICU. Hypothesis: that non-sedation during ventilator-treatment will improve the physical function after ICU-discharge, compared with standard treatment of sedation with a daily wake-up.

This study will implement and evaluate the effects of a pediatric continuity care intensivist program. This study will determine the impact of an additional pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) intensivist on outcomes at the patient and family level. It will also evaluate the training program to prepare the continuity care intensivist (CCI).