2017 Dec - Are high nurse workload/staffing ratios associated with decreased survival in critically ill patients? A cohort study
Lee A, Cheung YSL, Joynt GM, Leung CCH, Wong WT, Gomersall CD.; Ann Intensive Care. 2017 Dec;7(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s13613-017-0269-2. Epub 2017 May 2.
BACKGROUND: Despite the central role of nurses in intensive care, a relationship between intensive care nurse workload/staffing ratios and survival has not been clearly established. We determined whether there is a threshold workload/staffing ratio above which the probability of hospital survival is reduced and then modeled the relationship between exposure to inadequate staffing at any stage of a patient's ICU stay and risk-adjusted hospital survival.
2017 Apr - Diagnostic accuracy of quantitative neuromuscular ultrasound for the diagnosis of intensive care unit-acquired weakness: a cross-sectional observational study
Witteveen E, Sommers J, Wieske L, Doorduin J, van Alfen N, Schultz MJ, van Schaik IN, Horn J, Verhamme C.; Ann Intensive Care. 2017 Dec;7(1):40. doi: 10.1186/s13613-017-0263-8. Epub 2017 Apr 5.
BACKGROUND: Neuromuscular ultrasound is a noninvasive investigation, which can be easily performed at the bedside on the ICU. A reduction in muscle thickness and increase in echo intensity over time have been described in ICU patients, but the relation to ICU-acquired weakness (ICU-AW) is unknown. We hypothesized that quantitative assessment of muscle and nerve parameters with ultrasound can differentiate between patients with and without ICU-AW. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of neuromuscular ultrasound for diagnosing ICU-AW.