Active clinical trials for "Critical Illness"

The admission of a loved one in an ICU is a hard experience for family members. They frequently feel fear and grief, develop anxiety and depression symptoms, or even show some behaviors as this event was a real traumatic one, like hyper-arousal, avoidance and intrusion in the daily life.To improve the communication between them and the ICU staff members, and to meet their needs in terms of medical comprehension and emotional legitimization, a specific website was built, and a brochure was printed to make them welcomed in the ICU; moreover, a series of poster was prepared for the family waiting room outside the ICU. These instruments appeared able to improve the correctness of prognosis comprehension and to decrease the post-traumatic stress symptoms in a multicenter study involving Italian ICUs. The proposal of the present study is to verify on a larger scale if these instruments can really ameliorate the empathic communication among staff members, without increase in workload, and to make less traumatic, for the family members, their experience during and after the ICU stay.

Admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) is vital for surviving critical illness. An admission to ICU without having a consistent structure, structured review of the patient and a solid team organization lead to unclear communication and responsibility. Factors that correlate with patient acceptance and safety, morbidity and mortality. The hypothesize was that a structured admission can improve patients safety, reduce delays in treatment, reduce ICU length of stay, and improve mortality rate. The overall objective was to optimize patient safety, and effectively use available resources to reduce admission time, delays in treatment and procedures and mortality by using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Moderate and Deep neuromuscular blockade (rocuronium administered to a train of four count 0 and post-tetanic count of 1-2) in critically ill patients needing intubation or procedures can be reversed immediately and effectively by sugammadex avoiding unnecessary paralysis in an already weakened population

Reducing discomfort in the intensive care unit (ICU) should be beneficial to longterm outcomes. This study assesses whether a tailored multicomponent program for discomfort reduction may be effective in reducing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms at 1-year in general ICU survivors. The psychiatric morbidity may be increased by the COVID-19 epidemic and its consequences on the healthcare system (patient care, reorganization of French ICUs). The main objective of PTSD-REA_COVID cohort is to assess this psychiatric morbidity 6 months after an ICU stay during the epidemic period.

This study evaluates the safety and effectiveness of an early rehabilitation program in a pediatric intensive care unit(PICU). Half of the participants will receive an early mobilization program and others will not.

Spending time on intensive care can affect people in many different ways. Ability to move, walk, concentrate and remember events can all be affected. People may find their mood is altered and anxiety, stress and reduced confidence are common. These symptoms are frequently grouped together in a term called 'post intensive care syndrome'. Recovery often takes time and can be challenging. Returning to driving is an important milestone and can enable individuals to return to important activities such as work and hobbies. As a complex task, driving requires individuals to do many things at once which initially can be demanding. Currently there is limited guidance about driving after a period of time on intensive care. This study is being carried out to increase understanding of driving difficulties after a stay on intensive care and how successful and safe return to driving can be ensured. It is known that a stay on intensive care can have many effects on the body but currently the best advice to give to patients about returning to drive is unknown. The investigators would like to gather information on how many people do and do not return to driving and the reasons for this so people can be provided with more accurate information in the future. Additionally, it is important to find out if the driving assessment is practical and achievable for individuals who have had a stay on intensive care.

The purpose of this study is to identify the efficacy of virtual visitation in Intensive Care Unit on patients and their caregivers during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Weaning is one of the most complex challenges in mechanically ventilated patients. Increased work of breathing after extubation would play a central role in weaning failure. Currently, non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is recommended to prevent weaning failure in high-risk patients. On the other hand, high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC), which is a novel system capable of administering gas mixtures (air and oxygen) with a flow of up to 60 liters/min, has been used to prevent weaning failure in this kind of patients. The use of NIV and HFNC after extubation has been evaluated in some clinical studies. However, the evidence is controversial, and the information regarding the physiological effects that each therapy induces in recently extubated patients at high risk of weaning failure is lacking. The goal of this proposal is to compare the acute physiological effects of postextubation NIV versus HFNC in critically ill patients at high risk of weaning failure on relevant mechanisms related to weaning failure: Work of breathing, lung function, ventilation distribution, systemic hemodynamics. This will be a randomized crossover study that will include critically ill mechanically ventilated patients, who fulfill criteria indicating they may be ready for weaning from mechanical ventilation, and in whom a spontaneous breathing trial (SBT) is planned to determine if they should be extubated. After checking eligibility and obtaining informed consent, patients will be monitored with an esophageal catheter (esophageal/gastric pressures to determine work of breathing, and electric activity of diaphragm to determine neuromechanical coupling), and a noninvasive ventilation monitor (electric impedance tomography to assess global and regional ventilation). Work of breathing, lung function, and systemic hemodynamics will be assessed during the SBT. Inclusion in the study will be confirmed only if they pass the SBT and are extubated. During the first 2 hours after extubation, patients will undergo one hour of NIV and one hour of HFNC, with the crossover sequence being randomized previously at the time of inclusion and with assessments repeated at the end of each treatment period.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is affecting the way many people live their lives, including seeking medical care and maintaining good self-care to keep healthy. Additionally, in the event many people become critically ill at once, COVID-19 has the possibility of overwhelming hospitals to the point where they have to make decisions about how to determine who receives intensive care and life-support measures. Many hospitals as well as local or state governments have been working on policies to determine how to make these decisions. This study seeks to learn about how COVID-19 has affected the way patients and healthcare providers care for themselves and about their thoughts and concerns about policies that may "ration" life-support resources.

The technique of blood samples extraction from the radial artery through an arterial catheter with a 3-way stopcock and automated washing with valve of fast flow is better than the one carried out through a fixed reusable arterial blood sample syringe and its manual washing because it shows a minor incidence of the complications originated from technical manipulation as infection, pseudo-aneurysm, ischemia or thrombosis of radial artery or obstruction of the catheter. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy, in terms of adverse effects, of blood samples obtention using an arterial catheter with needless connector closed system or an arterial catheter with an arterial blood sample syringe. Also a second purpose is to compare once a day (at the same time) the values of glycose blood levels between bedside glucometer determination of arterial catheter extraction and capillar puncture, and lab determination of glycose from venous puncture, in order to determinate fluctuation in glycose levels due to peripherical hypoperfusion or to vasoactive drugs received by these in-intensive care unit patients.