Study: Nutrition therapy may raise mortality risk in ICU patients | Nurse tells of work inside medical tent after Boston Marathon blasts | Physicians, hospitals make end-of-life care a bigger priority
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April 19, 2013
Critical Care SmartBrief
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Critical Care Update
Study: Nutrition therapy may raise mortality risk in ICU patients
A Canadian study found that giving ICU patients the amino acid glutamine in intravenous fluids raised their risk of death by 30%, and that replacing antioxidants did not reduce the likelihood of death or organ failure. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, included 1,223 patients with multi-organ failure in 40 ICUs in the U.S., Canada and Europe. HealthDay News (4/17)
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Surgeons treating marathon victims benefit from military's experience
Boston physicians who learned about treating blast victims from military surgeons put the lessons to good use treating victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. Military protocol calls for dealing with the most life-threatening problems first, instead of trying to treat all of a patient's medical issues. Patients suffering amputations also will benefit from military advances in reconstruction, prosthetics and rehabilitation, orthopedic trauma surgeon Dr. Michael Weaver said. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (4/17)
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Nurse tells of work inside medical tent after Boston Marathon blasts
The medical support teams at the Boston Marathon quickly transformed into a trauma unit as the wounded began pouring in after Monday's bombing, Tufts Medical Center ICU nurse Stephen Segatore said. "I ran out and saw people who were missing legs and part of their face and part of their abdomen. My training prepared me for what to do, but nothing can ever really prepare you for what you see," he said. CNN (4/16)
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Medicine in the News
Physicians, hospitals make end-of-life care a bigger priority
Physicians and hospitals are making end-of-life care planning a bigger priority and are joining the Conversation Project to help patients and families begin that discussion. Another effort involves The Communication and Palliative Care initiative at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, which began as a way to reduce readmissions by training health care professionals to counsel seriously ill patients about their conditions, palliative care and whether to continue aggressive treatment. American Medical News (free content) (4/15)
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Trends and Technology
New nursing programs may ease neonatologist shortage in Memphis
Memphis hospitals face a shortage of neonatologists but the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's College of Nursing hopes to help alleviate it by creating a pediatric nurse practitioner option in its Doctor of Nursing Practice Program and reopening admission to its Neonatal Nurse Practitioner doctoral program. Ramasubbareddy Dhanireddy, NICU medical director at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, welcomed the help and said changes in neonatology residency programs and rotations mean neonatologist residents are not able to provide all of the care premature and sick infants need. The Daily News (Memphis, Tenn.) (4/16)
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Few drugs in the pipeline to fight superbugs
Drugmakers are working on seven new treatments for bacteria that resist even the strongest antibiotics, according to a report from the Infectious Diseases Society of America. The IDSA called for more funding, an improved regulatory climate and economic incentives for drugmakers working on superbug treatments. The antibiotic pipeline "is on life support," IDSA President Dr. David Relman said in a statement. Reuters (4/18)
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SmartQuote
When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth."
-- Cynthia Heimel,
American writer
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