intensive care unit

ST. LOUIS (MedPage Today) -- Endotracheal tubes coated with silver may cut down on ventilator-associated pneumonia in the intensive care unit, researchers here found.

(University of Washington) An infection due to a virus called cytomegalovirus, which most commonly affects people with compromised immune systems, can also affect hospital intensive-care patients who have no immune-system problems, University of Washington researchers have found.

CMV infection is also associated with longer hospital and intensive-care unit stays independent of other causes, according to the study, published July 23 in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. -- Twin premature babies, a brother and sister, have died in the wake of a heparin overdose at a Level III neonatal intensive care unit here.

(Johns Hopkins University) Johns Hopkins undergraduates have designed and built a device to enable critically ill intensive care unit patients to leave their beds and walk while remaining tethered to essential life-support equipment.

The invention allows doctors to better understand whether carefully supervised rehabilitation, as opposed to continuous sedation and bed rest, can improve the recovery of intensive care patients.

(Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) Black patients with advanced cancer were more likely thanwhites to die in a hospital intensive care unit, reflecting a greaterpreference among blacks for life-extending treatment even in the face of a terminal prognosis, according to a study led by researchers atDana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

(American Thoracic Society) Nearly one in three children admitted to pediatric intensive care will experience delusions or hallucinations, which put them at higher risk for post-traumatic stress symptoms, according to a new study of children's experiences in a pediatric intensive care unit.

Canadian researchers spent nearly 300 hours observing and carrying out interviews with staff, patients and families in an intensive care unit and a palliative care unit for people with terminal illnesses.

They concluded that "combined with scientific skill and compassion, humor offers a humanizing dimension in healthcare that is too valuable to be overlooked."

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Warning lights hover over the snoozing patients in Riley Hospital for Children's neonatal intensive care unit, ready to flash whenever sound levels creep beyond normal conversation.

As decibels rise, the colors on the new monitoring system change from green to yellow to red, hushing chatty parents or doctors so the babies get the rest they need to develop....