Innovation in the management of intensive care units: This is the right time

Intensive care in cancer patients in the age of immunotherapy and molecular therapies: Commitment of the SEOM-SEMICYUC

Cancer patients are a vulnerable group exposed to numerous and serious risks beyond cancer itself. In recent years, the prognosis of these individuals has improved substantially thanks to several advances such as immunotherapy, targeted molecular therapies, surgical techniques, or developments in support treatment. This coincides with the prolonged survival of oncological patients admitted to the ICU due to critical complications, and under the supervision of intensivists. The time has therefore come to revisit the intensive care support of these patients, which poses new professional as well as organizational challenges. An agreement was signed in 2017 between the SEOM and SEMICYUC with the aim of improving the quality of care of cancer patients with critical complications. The initiative seeks to aid in decision-making, standardize criteria, decrease subjectivity, generate channels of communication, and delve deeper into the ethical and scientific aspects of these situations. This document sets forth the most important reasons that have led us to undertake this initiative.

Clinician Perspectives of Barriers to Effective Implementation of a Rapid Response System in an Academic Health Centre: A Focus Group Study

BACKGROUND

Systemic and structural issues of rapid response system (RRS) models can hinder implementation. This study sought to understand the ways in which acute care clinicians (physicians and nurses) experience and negotiate care for deteriorating patients within the RRS.

METHODS

Physicians and nurses working within an Australian academic health centre within a jurisdictional-based model of clinical governance participated in focus group interviews. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using thematic content analysis.

RESULTS

Thirty-four participants (21 physicians and 13 registered nurses [RNs]) participated in six focus groups over five weeks in 2014. Implementing the RRS in daily practice was a process of informal communication and negotiation in spite of standardised protocols. Themes highlighted several systems or organisational-level barriers to an effective RRS, including (1) responsibility is inversely proportional to clinical experience; (2) actions around system flexibility contribute to deviation from protocol; (3) misdistribution of resources leads to perceptions of inadequate staffing levels inhibiting full optimisation of the RRS; and (4) poor communication and documentation of RRS increases clinician workloads.

CONCLUSION

Implementing a RRS is complex and multifactorial, influenced by various inter- and intra-professional factors, staffing models and organisational culture. The RRS is not a static model; it is both reflexive and iterative, perpetually transforming to meet healthcare consumer and provider demands and local unit contexts and needs. Requiring more than just a strong initial implementation phase, new models of care such as a RRS demand good governance processes, ongoing support and regular evaluation and refinement. Cultural, organizational and professional factors, as well as systems-based processes, require consideration if RRSs are to achieve their intended outcomes in dynamic healthcare settings.

Non-invasive ventilation in emergency departments in public hospitals in Catalonia. The VENUR-CAT study

OBJECTIVES

To know the implementation and characteristics of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in the Emergency Departments (EDs) of public hospitals in Catalonia (Spain) and analyze possible differences based on the typology, degree of activity and the availability of an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the hospital.

DESIGN

A non-interventional, descriptive study was carried out, using a structured questionnaire divided into 3sections: 1) professional experience and training; 2) devices used; and 3) clinical scenarios and the use of NIV.

SETTING

Persons responsible for public EDs in Catalonia.

RESULTS

Fifty-two of the 54 public EDs in Catalonia responded (96.3%). Fifty-one perform NIV, which is mainly initiated by emergency care physicians (78.5%); 66.7% maintain the patient in the ED until discharge; and in 43.1% of the cases the length of stay is>24h. Of the EDs, 39.2% have their own protocol, 35.3% of which are established by consensus with other departments (more frequently in non-county hospitals [P=.012], and centers with an ICU [P=.014]), while 25.5% have no protocol, and 43.1% register the activity. Training represents the greatest difficulty for the implementation of NIV, but 19.6% do not provide specific training. When support is needed, the main physician of reference is the intensivist (35.3%) (more frequently in non-county hospitals [P=.012], and centers with an ICU [P=.002]).

CONCLUSIONS

In most EDs in Catalonia, NIV is performed by emergency care physicians. Areas needing improvement include drainage of patients once NIV has been started, the promotion of protocols, registry of activity, and training of the healthcare professionals.