Authors: Kentish-Barnes, Nancy PhD et al Critical Care Medicine: December 2017 – Volume 45 – Issue 12 – p 1965–1971 Objectives: Family members of patients who die in the ICU often remain with unanswered questions and suffer from lack of closure. A letter of condolence may help bereaved relatives, but little is known about their experience of […]
Read MoreAuthors: R Lawrence et al BJA: British Journal of Anaesthesia, Volume 119, Issue 6, 1 December 2017, Pages 1092–1109 Background. Misuse of prescription opioids, and other drugs prescribed for chronic pain, has increased, with major concerns about harm. This review was undertaken to identify validated measurement tools for risk assessment and monitoring of chronic non-cancer pain […]
Read MorePersistent pain is associated with accelerated memory decline and development of dementia in the elderly. According to researchers, elderly patients who reported having persistent pain experienced an accelerated decline in functional independence. After 10 years, the additional amount of memory decline expected in participants with persistent pain shows they would be significantly less likely to […]
Read MoreDonovan Slack, USA TODAY Nov. 27, 2017 A months-long USA TODAY Network investigation reveals that for years, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs concealed mistakes and misdeeds by staff members entrusted with caring for veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs failed to report 90% of potentially dangerous medical providers in recent years to a national database […]
Read MoreAuthors: Moritz Kretzschmar, M.D., Ph.D., D.E.S.A. et al Anesthesiology 11 2017, Vol.127, 800-812. Background: Increasing numbers of patients with obstructive lung diseases need anesthesia for surgery. These conditions are associated with pulmonary ventilation/perfusion (VA/Q) mismatch affecting kinetics of volatile anesthetics. Pure shunt might delay uptake of less soluble anesthetic agents but other forms of VA/Q scatter have […]
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