scholarly journals Fast reshaping of intensive care unit facilities in a large metropolitan hospital in Milan, Italy: facing the COVID-19 pandemic emergency

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-94
Author(s):  
Paolo Silvani ◽  
◽  
Sergio Colombo ◽  
Anna Mara Scandroglio ◽  
Antonio Dell’Acqua ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Tertiary Hospital ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Personal Protection Equipment ◽  
The Public ◽  
Metropolitan Hospital ◽  
High Level ◽  
General Wards

At the end of 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak spread from China all around the world, causing thousands of deaths. In Italy, the hardest hit region was Lombardy, with the first reported case on 20 February 2020. San Raffaele Scientific Institute — a large tertiary hospital and research centre in Milan, Italy — was immediately involved in the management of the public health emergency. Since the beginning of the outbreak, the elective surgical activity of the hospital was rapidly reduced and large areas of the hospital were simultaneously reorganised to admit and assist patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition, the hospital became the regional referral hub for cardiovascular emergencies in order to keep ensuring a high level of health care to non-COVID-19 patients in northern Italy. In a few days, a COVID-19 emergency department was created, improving the general ward capacity to a total number of 279 beds dedicated to patients with COVID-19. Moreover, the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds was increased from 28 to 72 (54 of them dedicated to patients with COVID-19, and 18 to cardiology and cardiac surgery hub emergencies), both converting pre-existing areas and creating new high technology spaces. All the involved health care personnel were rapidly trained to use personal protection equipment and to manage this particular category of patients both in general wards and ICUs. Furthermore, besides clinical activities, continuously important research projects were carried out in order to find new strategies and more effective therapies to better face an unprecedented health emergency in Italy.

Surveillance of health care–associated infections in a tertiary hospital neonatal intensive care unit in Egypt: 1-year follow-up

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 1207-1211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen Abdel Hamid Gadallah ◽  
Aisha Mohamed Aboul Fotouh ◽  
Ihab Shehad Habil ◽  
Safaa Shafik Imam ◽  
Ghada Wassef
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Tertiary Hospital ◽  
Health Care Associated Infections

scholarly journals Compliance and Microbial Findings Among Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Hospital in Sudan: Pre- and Post-Intervention Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-65
Author(s):  
Ikhlas Mohamed Hamed Elyas ◽  
◽  
Abushadi Abdelfadeel Hassan ◽  
Adel Abu Elmaali Elsiddig ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Intervention Study ◽  
Tertiary Hospital ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Care Workers

Parameters of bed occupancy of intensive care units in Hungary

2011 ◽  
Vol 152 (24) ◽  
pp. 946-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miklós Gresz
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Intensive Care Units ◽  
Emergency Care ◽  
Present Author ◽  
Bed Occupancy ◽  
National Network ◽  
Bed Capacity

According to the Semmelweis Plan for Saving Health Care, ”the capacity of the national network of intensive care units in Hungary is one but not the only bottleneck of emergency care at present”. Author shows on the basis of data reported to the health insurance that not on a single calendar day more than 75% of beds in intensive care units were occupied. There were about 15 to 20 thousand sick days which could be considered unnecessary because patients occupying these beds were discharged to their homes directly from the intensive care unit. The data indicate that on the whole bed capacity is not low, only in some institutions insufficient. Thus, in order to improve emergency care in Hungary, the rearrangement of existing beds, rather than an increase of bed capacity is needed. Orv. Hetil., 2011, 152, 946–950.

The (Absence of a) Role of Venous Duplex Scan in the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Embolism after Severe Trauma

2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-10
Author(s):  
George C. Velmahos ◽  
Carlos V. Brown ◽  
Demetrios Demetriades
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Pulmonary Embolism ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Clinical Suspicion ◽  
Severely Injured ◽  
Duplex Scan ◽  
Severely Injured Patients ◽  
High Level ◽  
Injured Patients

Venous duplex scan (VDS) has been used for interim bedside diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) in severely injured patients deemed to be at risk if transported out of the intensive care unit. In combination with the level of clinical suspicion for PE, VDS helps select patients for temporary treatment until definitive diagnosis is made. We evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of VDS in critically injured patients with a high level of clinical suspicion for PE. We performed a prospective observational cohort study at the surgical intensive care unit of an academic level 1 trauma center. Patients were 59 critically injured patients suspected to have PE over a 30-month period. The level of clinical suspicion for PE was classified as low or high according to preset criteria. Interventions were VDS and a PE outcome test (conventional or computed tomographic pulmonary angiography). The sensitivity and specificity of VDS to detect PE in all patients and in patients with high level of clinical suspicion was calculated against the results of the outcome test. PE was diagnosed in 21 patients (35.5%). The sensitivity and specificity of VDS was 33 per cent and 89 per cent, respectively. Among the 28 patients who had a high level of clinical suspicion for PE, the sensitivity of VDS was 23 per cent and the specificity 93 per cent. In this latter population, 1 of the 4 (25%) positive VDS was of a patient without PE and 10 of the 24 (42%) negative VDS were of patients who had PE. VDS does not accurately predict PE in severely injured patients, even in the presence of a high level of clinical suspicion.

An In-Service Educational Package Improves Alarm Management in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU): Before and After Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 097321792110512
Author(s):  
Suryaprakash Hedda ◽  
Shashidhar A. ◽  
Saudamini Nesargi ◽  
Kalyan Chakravarthy Balla ◽  
Prashantha Y. N. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Response Time ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Neonatal Intensive Care ◽  
Alarm Management ◽  
Educational Package ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Before And After Study

Background: Monitoring in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) largely relies on equipment which have a number of alarms that are often quite loud. This creates a noisy environment, and moreover leads to desensitization of health-care personnel, whereby potentially important alarms may also be ignored. The objective was to evaluate the effect of an educational package on alarm management (the number of alarms, response to alarms, and appropriateness of settings). Methods: A before and after study was conducted at a tertiary neonatal care center in a teaching hospital in India involving all health-care professionals (HCP) working in the high dependency unit. The intervention consisted of demo lectures about working of alarms and bedside demonstrations of customizing alarm limits. A pre- and postintervention questionnaire was also administered to assess knowledge and attitude toward alarms. The outcomes were the number and type of alarms, response time, appropriateness of HCP response, and appropriateness of alarm limits as observed across a 24-h period which were compared before and after the intervention. Findings: The intervention resulted in a significant decrease in the number of alarms (11.6-9.6/h). The number of times where appropriate alarm settings were used improved from 24.3% to 67.1% ( P < .001). The response time to alarm did not change significantly (225 s vs 200 s); however, the appropriate response to alarms improved significantly from 15.6% to 68.8%. Conclusion: A simple structured intervention can improve the appropriate management of alarms. Application to Practice: Customizing alarm limits and nursing education reduce the alarm burden in NICUs

A Dutchman in London: reflections of a hospital chief executive from the Netherlands in the NHS

BMJ Leader ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. leader-2021-000509
Author(s):  
Marcel Levi
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
British Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
Interesting Insight ◽  
Clinical Point ◽  
High Level

BackgroundThe NHS is a fascinating health care system and is enjoying a lot of support from all layers of British society. However, it is clear that the system has excellent features but also areas that can be improved.Story of selfA number of years as a chief executive in one of London’s largest hospital has brought me a wealth of impressions, experiences, and understanding about working in the NHS. Contrasting those to my previous experience as chief executive in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) provides an interesting insight.ObservationsVery strong features of the NHS are the high level of health care professionals, the focus on quality and safety, and involvement of patients and the public. However, the NHS can significantly improve by addressing the lack of clinical professionals in the lead, curtailing ever increasing bureaucracy, and reducing its peculiar preference for outsourcing even the most crucial activities to private parties. The frequent inability to swiftly and successfully complete goal-directed negotiations as well as the large but from a clinical point of view irrelevant private sector are areas of sustained bewilderment. Lastly, the drive for innovation and transformation as well as the level of biomedical research in the NHS and supported by the British universities is fascinating and outstanding.

Quantifying Occupational Stress in Intensive Care Unit Nurses: An Applied Naturalistic Study of Correlations Among Stress, Heart Rate, Electrodermal Activity, and Skin Temperature

2021 ◽  
pp. 001872082110408
Author(s):  
Nima Ahmadi ◽  
Farzan Sasangohar ◽  
Tariq Nisar ◽  
Valerie Danesh ◽  
Ethan Larsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Skin Temperature ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Laboratory Research ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
High Level ◽  
Intensive Care Unit Nurses ◽  
Skin Temperatures

Objective To identify physiological correlates to stress in intensive care unit nurses. Background Most research on stress correlates are done in laboratory environments; naturalistic investigation of stress remains a general gap. Method Electrodermal activity, heart rate, and skin temperatures were recorded continuously for 12-hr nursing shifts (23 participants) using a wrist-worn wearable technology (Empatica E4). Results Positive correlations included stress and heart rate (ρ = .35, p < .001), stress and skin temperature (ρ = .49, p < .05), and heart rate and skin temperatures (ρ = .54, p = .0008). Discussion The presence and direction of some correlations found in this study differ from those anticipated from prior literature, illustrating the importance of complementing laboratory research with naturalistic studies. Further work is warranted to recognize nursing activities associated with a high level of stress and the underlying reasons associated with changes in physiological responses. Application Heart rate and skin temperature may be used for real-time detection of stress, but more work is needed to validate such surrogate measures.

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