The Association of Fever with Total Mechanical Ventilation Time in Critically Ill Patients

Nursing strategies for the mechanically ventilated patient

The goal of this manuscript is to provide a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary review of the best nursing practices of caring for mechanically ventilated patients. By reviewing human medicine literature, the authors will extrapolate procedures that have been found to be most effective in reducing the risk of mechanical ventilation (MV) complications. Paired with review of the current standards in veterinary medicine, the authors will compile the best practice information on mechanically ventilated patient care, which will serve as a detailed resource for the veterinary nursing staff. Written from a nursing standpoint, this manuscript aims to consolidate the nursing assessment of a mechanically ventilated patient, addressing both systemic and physical changes that may be encountered during hospitalization. The goal of this review article is to present information that encourages a proactive approach to nursing care by focusing on understanding the effects of polypharmacy, hemodynamic changes associated with MV, complications of recumbent patient care, and sources of hospital acquired infections. When applied in conjunction with the more technical aspects of MV, this manuscript will allow veterinary technicians involved in these cases to understand the dynamic challenges that mechanically ventilated patients present, provide guidance to mitigate risk, address issues quickly and effectively, and create an up-to date standard of practice that can be implemented.

The story of critical care in Asia: a narrative review

Background

Asia has more critically ill people than any other part of our planet. The aim of this article is to review the development of critical care as a specialty, critical care societies and education and research, the epidemiology of critical illness as well as epidemics and pandemics, accessibility and cost and quality of critical care, culture and end-of-life care, and future directions for critical care in Asia.

Main body

Although the first Asian intensive care units (ICUs) surfaced in the 1960s and the 1970s and specialisation started in the 1990s, multiple challenges still exist, including the lack of intensivists, critical care nurses, and respiratory therapists in many countries. This is aggravated by the brain drain of skilled ICU staff to high-income countries. Critical care societies have been integral to the development of the discipline and have increasingly contributed to critical care education, although critical care research is only just starting to take off through collaboration across groups. Sepsis, increasingly aggravated by multidrug resistance, contributes to a significant burden of critical illness, while epidemics and pandemics continue to haunt the continent intermittently. In particular, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has highlighted the central role of critical care in pandemic response. Accessibility to critical care is affected by lack of ICU beds and high costs, and quality of critical care is affected by limited capability for investigations and treatment in low- and middle-income countries. Meanwhile, there are clear cultural differences across countries, with considerable variations in end-of-life care. Demand for critical care will rise across the continent due to ageing populations and rising comorbidity burdens. Even as countries respond by increasing critical care capacity, the critical care community must continue to focus on training for ICU healthcare workers, processes anchored on evidence-based medicine, technology guided by feasibility and impact, research applicable to Asian and local settings, and rallying of governments for support for the specialty.

Conclusions

Critical care in Asia has progressed through the years, but multiple challenges remain. These challenges should be addressed through a collaborative approach across disciplines, ICUs, hospitals, societies, governments, and countries.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40560-021-00574-4.

Post-craniotomy fever and its associated factors in patients with traumatic brain injury

BACKGROUND

Fever frequently occurs in patients with traumatic brain injury and can cause secondary damage to the brain. Critical care nurses play essential roles in assessing and managing fever in these patients.

AIM

The study aimed to (a) examine the fever causes in and condition of neurosurgical patients with traumatic brain injury in intensive care, (b) identify the factors associated with fever, and (c) determine the effects of fever on hospital stay and prognosis.

STUDY DESIGN

This study is a retrospective observational design.

METHODS

Data were collected through chart reviews of 93 traumatic brain injury patients admitted to a teaching hospital's intensive care unit for postoperative care. Fever was defined as at least one episode of body temperature >38°C.

RESULTS

Of the 93 patients, 76 developed a fever within 1-week post-craniotomy. Of these, 49 were infection-related and 27 were unexplained. Results of logistic regression showed that the preoperative Glasgow coma scale score (ß = -.323; P = .013) and length of intubation (ß = .480; P = .005) were the key predictors of unexplained post-craniotomy fever, and these two variables (ß = -.494; P < .001 and ß = .479; P = .006, respectively) were also the key predictors of infection-related fever.

CONCLUSION

A significant portion of patients developed a fever during the first post-craniotomy week. Patients with a lower pre-craniotomy Glasgow coma scale score and a longer intubation length were at a greater risk for both infection-related fever and unexplained fever. Patients with fever had a bad outcome score.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Critical care nurses should closely monitor traumatic brain injury patients' body temperatures and employ evidence-based infection prevention and control measures to minimize their infection risks. Respiratory care and intensive care unit Liberation Bundle should be reinforced to liberate these patients from mechanical ventilation and its associated complications.

Effects of the Incidence Density of Fever (IDF) on Patients Resuscitated From In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: A Mediation Analysis

Objective: The aim of this research was to study the factors contributing to the survival rate of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) and to determine whether the incidence density of fever (IDF) acts as a mediator.

Methods: Data from patients with IHCA who survived more than 48 h were collected from 2011 to 2017. IDF was defined as the fever duration divided by the hospitalization duration, prolonged fever was defined as fever lasting for more than 5 days, and early fever was defined as an initial onset within the first 2 days of IHCA. Possible clinical variables associated with IDF were examined by linear regression, and possible clinical variables associated with survival rate were examined by univariate and multivariate analyses. IDF was investigated as a mediator of the indirect effects of the risk factors on survival.

Results: In our retrospective study, the median IDF was 0, with an interquartile range from 0 to 0.42. Prolonged fever was noted in 16% (97/605) of the total, and early fever was noted in 17.2% (104/605) of the total. Linear regression results showed that positive chest X-ray, central venous catheter and Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) ≤ 8 were related to IDF. The IDF (OR: 0.36, 95% CI, 0.13–0.97, P = 0.04), prolonged fever (adjusted OR = 0.13, 95% CI, 0.06–0.29, P < 0.001), positive chest X-ray (OR: 0.67, 95% CI, 0.46–0.98, P = 0.04), central venous catheter placement (OR: 0.54, 95% CI, 0.34–0.89, P = 0.01), and endotracheal intubation (OR: 0.47, 95% CI, 0.33–0.69, P < 0.001) were also related to the negative outcome of hospital discharge after adjustment. Additionally, positive chest X-ray had a 19% effect on survival outcome through IDF as a mediator, and the indirect effect of central venous catheter mediated by IDF accounted for 10% of the total.

Conclusions: A higher IDF, prolonged fever, a positive chest X-ray, the use of a central venous catheter and endotracheal intubation reduced the survival rate of these patients, and the detrimental impacts of a positive chest X-ray and the use of a central venous catheter on survival outcomes were partially mediated by IDF.

[Fever in the critically ill : To treat or not to treat]

Fever, arbitrarily defined as a core body temperature >38.3 °C, is present in 20-70 % of intensive care unit patients. Fever caused by infections is a physiologic reset of the thermostatic set-point and is associated with beneficial consequences, but may have negative sequelae with temperatures >39.5 °C. Fever of non-infectious and neurologic origin affects about 50 % of patients with elevated body temperature, presents as a pathologic loss of thermoregulation, and may be associated with untoward side effects at temperatures above 38.5-39.0 °C. Cooling can be achieved by physical and pharmacologic means. Evidence-based recommendations are not available. The indication for a cooling therapy can only be based on the physiologic reserve and the neurologic, hemodynamic, and respiratory state. The temperature should be lowered to the normothermic range. Hyperthermia syndromes require immediate physical cooling (and dantrolen when indicated).