Nosocomial pneumonia and mortality among patients in intensive care units

Article Abstract:

Hospital-acquired pneumonia may be a significant cause of death in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). ICU patients are much more likely to develop hospital-acquired, or nosocomial, infections because they are often on ventilators or have urinary catheters or catheters placed in major blood vessels. Researchers used multivariate analysis to determine the factors most associated with death in 1,978 patients who had been in an ICU for more than 48 hours. A total of 328 patients developed nosocomial pneumonia and more than half (172) died. The death rate in those who did not develop nosocomial pneumonia was 22.4%. Patients were 3.8 times more likely to die if they developed nosocomial pneumonia, 4.5 times more likely to die if they developed bacterial infection in the blood and 1.4 times more likely to die if they developed a urinary tract infection.

Patient outcomes, Mortality, Pneumonia, Nosocomial infections, Cross infection, Critically ill

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Identifying Patients at Low Risk for Cervical Spine Injury: The Canadian C-Spine Rule for Radiography

Article Abstract:

A group of Canadian doctors has developed an algorithm that emergency room doctors can use to determine whether an injured patient needs an X-ray of the neck. This is done to identify neck fractures but many patients have a low risk of neck fracture.

Editorial, Evaluation, Diagnosis, Health status indicators, Neck, Spinal cord injuries

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