INTRODUCTIONThis study aims to determine the attitudes of Asian elderly patients towards invasive life support measures, the degree of patient-surrogate concordance in end-of-life decision making, the extent to which patients desire autonomy over end-of-life medical decisions, the reasons behind patients' and surrogates' decisions, and the main factors influencing patients' and surrogates' decision-making processes. We hypothesize that there is significant patient-surrogate discordance in end-of-life decision making in our community.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe patient and surrogate were presented with a hypothetical scenario in which the patient experienced gradual functional decline in the community before being admitted for life-threatening pneumonia. It was explained that the outcome was likely to be poor even with intensive care and each patient-surrogate pair was subsequently interviewed separately on their opinions of extraordinary life support using a standardised questionnaire. Both parties were blinded to each other's replies.

RESULTSIn total, 30 patients and their surrogate decision-makers were interviewed. Twenty-eight (93.3%) patients and 20 (66.7%) surrogates rejected intensive care. Patient-surrogate concurrence was found in 20 pairs (66.7%). Twenty-four (80.0%) patients desired autonomy over their decision. The patients' and surrogates' top reasons for rejecting intensive treatment were treatment-related discomfort, poor prognosis and financial cost. Surrogates' top reasons for selecting intensive treatment were the hope of recovery, the need to complete final tasks and the sanctity of life.

CONCLUSIONThe majority of patients desire autonomy over critical care issues. Relying on the surrogates' decisions to initiate treatment may result in treatment against patients' wishes in up to one-third of critically ill elderly patients.

Advance Directive Adherence ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Attitude ; Critical Care ; psychology ; Critical Illness ; psychology ; therapy ; Decision Making ; Dissent and Disputes ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Personal Autonomy

PURPOSE: Critically ill patients receiving continuous renal replacement therapy are susceptible to infection with methicillin-resistant bacteria, which require treatment with vancomycin. However, there are limited reports regarding vancomycin pharmacokinetics in the continuous venovenous hemodialysis (CVVHD) and continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration (CVVHDF). We performed this study to investigate the pharmacokinetics of vancomycin in oliguric patients receiving CVVHD and CVVHDF. METHODS: Data at steady-state obtained as part of our routine drug monitoring of vancomycin therapy in critically ill adult oliguric patients undergoing CVVHD or CVVHDF, retrospectively. Data were available for 35 cases of 23 patients assessed for 2 years. We analyzed the pharmacokinetic parameters of these cases. RESULTS: 8 cases on CVVHD and 27 cases on CVVHDF were available. The mean intensity of CVVHD was 17.7+/-4.9 mL/hour/kg and that of CVVHDF was 32.1+/-3.9 mL/hour/kg (p=0.000). The mean clearance of vancomycin was 16.4+/-3.8 mL/min in the CVVHD group and 21.6+/-5.1 mL/min in the CVVHDF group (P=0.007). The elimination of vancomycin correlated with the intensity of CVVHD and CVVHDF (CVVHD; r2=0.745, p=0.012, CVVHDF; r2=0.452, p=0.000). CONCLUSION: CVVHD and CVVHDF are effective for vancomycin elimination and there is a strong dependency of the vancomycin removal on the intensity of continuous renal replacement therapy. Strategies for individualization of vancomycin therapy in patients receiving CVVHD and CVVHDF are proposed.
Adult ; Bacteria ; Critical Illness ; Dependency (Psychology) ; Drug Monitoring ; Hemodiafiltration ; Humans ; Methicillin Resistance ; Renal Dialysis ; Renal Replacement Therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Vancomycin

OBJECTIVE: Sonography is a noninvasive and safe bedside imaging modality that provides rapid and repeatable real-time radiological evaluations without a radiation hazard. However, sonography has not gained widespread acceptance as a diagnostic tool in adult brain disease because of limited imaging resolution through the bony window. We investigated the diagnostic potential and clinical usefulness of bedside brain sonography through surgical bone defects in neurosurgical patients. METHODS: We evaluated twelve patients, each of whom had undergone a decompressive craniectomy, via bedside sonography, and performed comparison CT or MRI for all patients. RESULTS: We obtained reliable information regarding anatomical structure displacement, ventricle systems, intracranial fluid collection, presence and distribution of cerebral infarctions, and hemorrhages. We performed several interventional trials under sonography guidance, including aspiration of entrapped fluid collection and insertion of an external ventricular drainage catheter into a collapsed and displaced ventricle cavity. CONCLUSION: Bedside sonography through surgically created bone defects is a non-invasive method that physicians can repeat as required with no radiation hazard, and it is of particular value in emergent and critical situations when conventional neuroimages are unobtainable. Bedside sonography can be a first-line monitoring tool, in lieu of CT, for critically ill patients with surgical cranial defects.
Adult ; Brain ; Brain Diseases ; Catheters ; Cerebral Infarction ; Critical Illness ; Decompressive Craniectomy ; Displacement (Psychology) ; Drainage ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Neurosurgery ; Ultrasonography, Doppler

INTRODUCTIONFamily presence (FP) during resuscitation is an increasingly favoured trend, as it affords many benefits to the critically ill patient's family members. However, a previously conducted study showed that only 15.8% of surveyed Malaysian healthcare staff supported FP during resuscitation.

METHODSThis cross-sectional study used a bilingual self-administered questionnaire to examine the attitudes and perceptions of the general Malaysian public toward the presence of family members during resuscitation of their loved ones. The questionnaires were randomly distributed to Malaysians in three different states and in the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur.

RESULTSOut of a total of 190 survey forms distributed, 184 responses were included for analysis. Of the 184 respondents, 140 (76.1%) indicated that they favoured FP during resuscitation. The most common reason cited was that FP during resuscitation provides family members with the assurance that everything possible had been done for their loved ones (n = 157, 85.3%). Respondents who had terminal illnesses were more likely to favour FP during resuscitation than those who did not, and this was statistically significant (95.0% vs. 73.8%; p = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONFP during resuscitation was favoured by a higher percentage of the general Malaysian public as compared to Malaysian healthcare staff. This could be due to differences in concerns regarding the resuscitation process between members of the public and healthcare staff.

Attitude of Health Personnel ; Attitude to Health ; Critical Illness ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Family ; psychology ; Humans ; Malaysia ; Perception ; Resuscitation ; methods ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of the Critical Patient Severity Classification System (CPSCS) and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) for critically ill neurological patients and to determine the applicability of CPSCS and GCS in predicting their mortality. METHODS: Data were collected from the medical records of 187 neurological patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit of C university hospital. The datawere analyzed through chi-square test, t test,Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, goodness-of-fit test, and receiver operating characteristic curve. RESULTS: In accordance with patients' general and clinical characteristics, patient mortality turned out to be significantly different depending on intensive care unit stay, endotracheal intubation, central venous catheter, and severity by CPSCS. Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit tests were applied to CPSCS and GCS. The results of the discrimination test using the receiver operating characteristic curve were CPSCS0, .743, GCS0 .583, CPSCS24, .734, GCS24 .612, CPSCS48, .591, GCS48 .646, CPSCS72, .622, and GCS72 .623. Logistic regression analysis showed that each point on the CPSCS score signifies a 1.034 higher likelihood of dying. CONCLUSION: Applied to neurologically ill patients, early CPSCS scores can be regarded as a useful tool.
Central Venous Catheters ; Critical Illness ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Glasgow Coma Scale ; Humans ; Critical Care ; Intensive Care Units ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Logistic Models ; Medical Records ; Neurology ; ROC Curve

BACKGROUND: The ability to accurately adjust for the severity of illness in outcome studies of critically ill patients is essential for clinical audits and trials. Several studies have been carried out to validate the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II) score in Korean ICUs. However, few reports have been presented that compare the performance of the APACHE II score and diagnostic category weighted APACHE II models in the surgical ICU population of Korea. The aim of this study was to validate APACHE II and compare the performance of the APACHE II and adjusted APACHE II models for emergency admission in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) population. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the prospective ICU registry was conducted in the SICU between October 2007 and February 2011. Calibration and discrimination were determined by the Hosmer-Lemeshow test and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) curve from patients. RESULTS: This study included 854 patients. SICU mortality was 9.4%. For APACHE II and adjusted APACHE II, AUCs were 0.791 and 0.757, respectively. Hosmer and Lemeshow C statistics showed good calibration for APAHCE II and for adjusted APACHE II (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The ability of the APACHE II system in predicting group outcome is validated in a surgical ICU population by a receiver operating characteristic curve and logistic regression analysis. Mortality rates predicted using APACHE II exhibited good calibration and moderate discrimination. Diagnostic category weighted adjusted APACHE II did not improve the mortality prediction.
APACHE ; Area Under Curve ; Calibration ; Clinical Audit ; Critical Illness ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Critical Care ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Prospective Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; ROC Curve

PURPOSE: Despite improved quality of intensive care, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) significantly contributes to mortality in critically ill children. As pre-existing definitions of ARDS were adult-oriented standards, the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury Consensus Conference (PALICC) group released a new definition of pediatric ARDS. In this study, we aimed to assess the performance of PALICC definition for ARDS risk stratification. METHODS: Total 332 patients who admitted to the intensive care unit at Severance Hospital from January 2009 to December 2016 and diagnosed as having ARDS by either the PALICC definition or the Berlin definition were retrospectively analyzed. Patient characteristics and mortality rates were compared between the individual severity groups according to both definitions. RESULTS: The overall mortality rate was 36.1%. The mortality rate increased across the severity classes according to both definitions (26% in mild, 37% in moderate and 68% in severe by the PALICC definition [P<0.001]; 20% in mild, 32% in moderate and 64% in severe by the Berlin definition [P<0.001]). The mortality risk increased only for severe ARDS in both definitions (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 2.279 [1.414–3.672], P=0.001 by the PALICC definition; 2.674 [1.518–4.712], P=0.001 by the Berlin definition). There was no significant difference in mortality discrimination between the 2 definitions (difference in integrated area under the curve: 0.017 [−0.018 to 0.049]). CONCLUSION: The PALICC definition demonstrated similar discrimination power on PARDS' severity and mortality as the Berlin definition.
Acute Lung Injury* ; Berlin ; Child ; Consensus* ; Critical Care ; Critical Illness ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Mortality ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult* ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the essence of the experiences of patients in an ICU, and to understand them from the patients' point of view. METHODS: Participants in this study were six patients in P hospital. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews and an observation method done from January to April in 2005. The method was analysis using the phenomenological method proposed by Colaizzi(1978). RESULTS: The themes were classified into eight theme clusters. The eight theme clusters were finally grouped into four categories, 'shock', 'pain', 'gratefulness' and 'pleasure of revival'. CONCLUSION: The ICU patients had negative experiences in physical.mental critical situations, but also positive experiences in consolation and nurses and families' encouragement. Therefore, ICU nurses must support patients and their families to minimize the negative experiences and maximize the positive experiences.
Adult ; Aged ; Attitude to Health ; Critical Illness/psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Inpatients/*psychology ; *Intensive Care Units ; Interviews as Topic ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nursing Methodology Research ; Patient Transfer ; Qualitative Research

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the levels of relocation stress syndrome (RSS) and influencing the stress experienced by Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients just after transfer to general wards. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 257 patients who transferred from the intensive care unit. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires from May to October, 2009. Data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and stepwise multiple linear regression with SPSS/WIN 12.0. RESULTS: The mean score for RSS was 17.80+/-9.16. The factors predicting relocation stress syndrome were symptom experience, differences in scope and quality of care provided by ICU and ward nursing staffs, satisfaction with transfer process, length of stay in ICU and economic status, and these factors explained 40% of relocation stress syndrome (F=31.61, p<.001). CONCLUSION: By understanding the stress experienced by ICU patients, nurses are better able to provide psychological support and thus more holistic care to critically ill patients. Further research is needed to consider the impact of relocation stress syndrome on patients' health outcomes in the recovery trajectory.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Adult ; Aged ; Critical Illness/*psychology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; *Intensive Care Units ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Patient Transfer ; Questionnaires ; Stress, Psychological/*etiology ; Syndrome

Critical illness often results in renal dysfunction. Renal disease includes acid base imbalance, electrolyte shift and neuromuscular disturbances in critically ill patients, who are influenced by the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of muscle relaxants, with kidney dependent metabolism and excretion. In terms of renal dysfunction, not only decreased circulating levels of normal cholinesterase, but also cholinesterase depletion after plasmapheresis and dialysis draw the attention of clinicians, when administering a muscle relaxant to critically ill patients who are compromised with renal function. These patients have a lower clearance of renal excreted drugs, changes of the volume of distribution, water retention, and pH changes that alter the protein bond and degree of ionization of the drugs. Immobilization of the limb and respiratory muscles, leading to muscle atrophy and the up-regulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, associated with critical illness, is observed in many patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit with renal dysfunction. Disease related conditions or iatrogenically induced factors, including sedation, lead to immobilization of skeletal muscles. Aside from systemic inflammation, immobilization is a key contributing factor to the development of critical illness myopathy. Physicians who care for critically ill patients with renal dysfunction should pay attention to the adequate choice of muscle relaxants and their antagonists.
Acid-Base Imbalance ; Cholinesterases ; Critical Care ; Critical Illness ; Dialysis ; Extremities ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Immobilization ; Inflammation ; Intensive Care Units ; Kidney ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Muscles ; Muscular Atrophy ; Muscular Diseases ; Plasmapheresis ; Receptors, Nicotinic ; Respiratory Muscles ; Retention (Psychology) ; Up-Regulation ; Water