A multifaceted strategy to optimize pharmacokinetics of antimicrobial therapy in patients with hospital-acquired infections-a monocentre quality improvement project.

OBJECTIVE: We assessed the efficacy of a quality improvement programme to optimize the delivery of antimicrobial therapy in critically ill patients with hospital-acquired infections (HAI). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Before-after trial in a university hospital in France. Consecutive adults receiving systemic antimicrobial therapy for HAI were included. Patients received standard care during the pre-intervention period (June 2017 to November 2017). The quality improvement programme was implemented in December 2017. During the intervention period (January 2018 to June 2019), clinicians were trained to dose adjustment based on therapeutic drug monitoring and continuous infusion of ß-lactam antibiotics. The primary endpoint was the mortality rate at day 90. RESULTS: A total of 198 patients were included (58 pre-intervention, 140 intervention). The compliance with the therapeutic drug monitoring-dose adaptation increased from 20.3% to 59.3% after the intervention (P < 0.0001). The 90-day mortality rate was 27.6% in the pre-intervention period and 17.3% in the intervention group (adjusted relative risk 0.53, 95%CI 0.27-1.07, P = 0.08). Treatment failures were observed in 22 (37.9%) patients before and 36 (25.7%) patients after the intervention (P = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: Recommendations for therapeutic drug monitoring-dose adaptation and continuous infusion of ß-lactam antibiotics were not associated with a reduction in the 90-day mortality rate in patients with HAI.

Effect of continuous infusion of hypertonic saline solution on survival of patients with brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The objective was to determine the effects of continuous infusion of hypertonic saline solutions on outcomes of patients with brain injury. METHODS: Preferred Reported Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines were followed. We searched the MEDLINE and COCHRANE clinical trials register (through December 2021) and reference lists of articles. We included all clinical trials conducted in brain-injured patients hospitalized in intensive care units evaluating continuous infusion of hypertonic saline solution (osmolarity above 308 mOsm/L). Two reviewers extracted data that were checked by two others. The primary outcome was the in-hospital mortality rate. The main secondary outcomes were the rates of intracranial hypertension, an unfavorable neurological outcome at day 90, and adverse events. RESULTS: We identified 23 clinical trials reporting the use of continuous infusion of hypertonic saline solution in brain-injured patients. The primary outcome was available in 10 studies (n = 1883 patients). The odds ratio (OR) for in-hospital death with the intervention was 0.68 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.54-0.85, I2 = 0%). In the subgroup of studies including only traumatic brain-injured patients (7 studies, n = 1521 patients), the OR for the primary outcome was 0.74 (95%CI 0.57-0.95) with the intervention. The OR for intracranial hypertension and unfavorable neurological outcome at day 90 were 0.66 (95%CI 0.49-0.88, I2 = 42%, n = 787 patients) and 0.61 (95%CI 0.46-0.81, I2 = 15%, n = 956 patients), respectively. Regarding safety, the OR of acute kidney injury and severe hypernatremia were 0.82 (95%CI 0.47-1.44, I2 = 0%) and 3.38 (95%CI 2.16-5.27, I2 = 24%). CONCLUSIONS: Continuous hypertonic saline solution infusion reduced in-hospital mortality without increasing the risk of unfavorable neurological outcome at day 90 in brain-injured patients hospitalized in intensive care units. Given the inclusion of observational and heterogeneous studies, further randomized studies are needed before developing recommendations for implementation at the bedside. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42021221367. Registered 13 May 2021.

Organizational ethics in urgent transfers of severely disabled people to intensive care units - a qualitative study.

PURPOSE: Urgent transfers of severely impaired patients with chronic neurological disability (PwND) from a neurological physical and rehabilitation medicine (nPRM) to an intensive care unit (ICU) or an emergency room (ER) served as the basis for this study. We hypothesized that human and structural factors interfered with but were not directly related to the acute context. METHODS: We decided to use a qualitative methodology, based on in-depth interviews with 16 ICU/ER physicians. We used mixed bottom-up and top-down methods. We interpreted our data using a thematic approach based on the key principles of grounded theory, which were modified with consideration of the literature. RESULTS: Three main domains emerged. The impact of the clinical setting notably implied the patient's clinical typology between the acute event and the chronic background, but also bed availability. Key elements of the telephone negotiation were confidence and perceived usefulness of the transfer. Finally, the otherness of some categories of patients, transferred with more difficulty, involved those with cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS: The existence of healthcare pathways for many years has created an organizational culture between departments of nPRM and ICUs. But urgent transfers also imply organizational ethics, as a balance should be struck between utility and equity. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONStructural and human factors interfere in urgent transfers, involving the settings within health pathways, the key elements of negotiation to get confidence and a perceived utility of transfer, and certain categories of people, especially those with cognitive impairment.Transfers that imply negotiation between practitioners from physical and rehabilitation medicine and intensive care unit departments, lead to a need of organizational ethics, as a balance should be struck between the principles of utility and equity.The development of facilitating tools such as a commitment charter is of paramount importance as it can support ethical decision-making.

Effect of Continuous Infusion of Hypertonic Saline vs Standard Care on 6-Month Neurological Outcomes in Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury: The COBI Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Fluid therapy is an important component of care for patients with traumatic brain injury, but whether it modulates clinical outcomes remains unclear. Objective: To determine whether continuous infusion of hypertonic saline solution improves neurological outcome at 6 months in patients with traumatic brain injury. Design, Setting, and Participants: Multicenter randomized clinical trial conducted in 9 intensive care units in France, including 370 patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury who were recruited from October 2017 to August 2019. Follow-up was completed in February 2020. Interventions: Adult patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury were randomly assigned to receive continuous infusion of 20% hypertonic saline solution plus standard care (n = 185) or standard care alone (controls; n = 185). The 20% hypertonic saline solution was administered for 48 hours or longer if patients remained at risk of intracranial hypertension. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS-E) score (range, 1-8, with lower scores indicating worse functional outcome) at 6 months, obtained centrally by blinded assessors and analyzed with ordinal logistic regression adjusted for prespecified prognostic factors (with a common odds ratio [OR] >1.0 favoring intervention). There were 12 secondary outcomes measured at multiple time points, including development of intracranial hypertension and 6-month mortality. Results: Among 370 patients who were randomized (median age, 44 [interquartile range, 27-59] years; 77 [20.2%] women), 359 (97%) completed the trial. The adjusted common OR for the GOS-E score at 6 months was 1.02 (95% CI, 0.71-1.47; P = .92). Of the 12 secondary outcomes, 10 were not significantly different. Intracranial hypertension developed in 62 (33.7%) patients in the intervention group and 66 (36.3%) patients in the control group (absolute difference, -2.6% [95% CI, -12.3% to 7.2%]; OR, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.51-1.26]). There was no significant difference in 6-month mortality (29 [15.9%] in the intervention group vs 37 [20.8%] in the control group; absolute difference, -4.9% [95% CI, -12.8% to 3.1%]; hazard ratio, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.48-1.28]). Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, treatment with continuous infusion of 20% hypertonic saline compared with standard care did not result in a significantly better neurological status at 6 months. However, confidence intervals for the findings were wide, and the study may have had limited power to detect a clinically important difference. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03143751.

Association between hydroxocobalamin administration and acute kidney injury after smoke inhalation: a multicenter retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: The use of hydroxocobalamin has long been advocated for treating suspected cyanide poisoning after smoke inhalation. Intravenous hydroxocobalamin has however been shown to cause oxalate nephropathy in a single-center study. The impact of hydroxocobalamin on the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) and survival after smoke inhalation in a multicenter setting remains unexplored. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter retrospective study in 21 intensive care units (ICUs) in France. We included patients admitted to an ICU for smoke inhalation between January 2011 and December 2017. We excluded patients discharged at home alive within 24 h of admission. We assessed the risk of AKI (primary endpoint), severe AKI, major adverse kidney (MAKE) events, and survival (secondary endpoints) after administration of hydroxocobalamin using logistic regression models. RESULTS: Among 854 patients screened, 739 patients were included. Three hundred six and 386 (55.2%) patients received hydroxocobalamin. Mortality in ICU was 32.9% (n = 243). Two hundred eighty-eight (39%) patients developed AKI, including 186 (25.2%) who developed severe AKI during the first week. Patients who received hydroxocobalamin were more severe and had higher mortality (38.1% vs 27.2%, p = 0.0022). The adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of AKI after intravenous hydroxocobalamin was 1.597 (1.055, 2.419) and 1.772 (1.137, 2.762) for severe AKI; intravenous hydroxocobalamin was not associated with survival or MAKE with an adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 1.114 (0.691, 1.797) and 0.784 (0.456, 1.349) respectively. CONCLUSION: Hydroxocobalamin was associated with an increased risk of AKI and severe AKI but was not associated with survival after smoke inhalation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03558646.

Impact of a Quality Improvement Program on the Neurological Outcome of Patients with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Before-After Mono-Centric Study.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a major cause of severe disability. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a quality improvement program on neurological recovery after SCI. Before-after study during two phases was done in one intensive care unit in a university hospital. The quality improvement project comprised protective mechanical ventilation, early tracheostomy in anatomical injury above the sixth cervical vertebra, early enteral nutrition, early mobilization, and active perineal care in adult SCI patients. The primary endpoint was the difference between the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) motor score between discharge and intensive care unit (ICU) admission (Delta ASIA). Fifty-seven and 60 patients were included in the control and in the intervention period respectively. The ASIA motor score upon ICU admission was 16 (7-37) before and 11 (2-30) after the implementation (p = 0.30). The implementation phase was associated with lower tidal volumes (p < 0.001), higher positive end-expiratory pressure (p < 0.001), earlier tracheostomy (p = 0.01), earlier enteral nutrition initiation (p < 0.05), earlier mobilization (p < 0.05), and more active perineal care (p < 0.05). The Delta ASIA was +16 [4-32] after versus +6 [0-14] before the intervention (p < 0.05). After adjustment for potential cofounders, the intervention phase was significantly associated with higher Delta ASIA (ß coefficient, 11.4; CI95 [1.9-21]; p = 0.01) in multi-variable analysis. No secular time trend unrelated to the intervention was highlighted. One year after trauma, the Delta ASIA was higher in the intervention period than in the control period (+34 [15-60] vs. +11 [0-33]; p < 0.05). After adjustment on potential confounders, an early in-ICU rehabilitation program in SCI patients was associated with higher neurological score upon ICU discharge.

Association between continuous hyperosmolar therapy and survival in patients with traumatic brain injury - a multicentre prospective cohort study and systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Intracranial hypertension (ICH) is a major cause of death after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Continuous hyperosmolar therapy (CHT) has been proposed for the treatment of ICH, but its effectiveness is controversial. We compared the mortality and outcomes in patients with TBI with ICH treated or not with CHT. METHODS: We included patients with TBI (Glasgow Coma Scale ≤ 12 and trauma-associated lesion on brain computed tomography (CT) scan) from the databases of the prospective multicentre trials Corti-TC, BI-VILI and ATLANREA. CHT consisted of an intravenous infusion of NaCl 20% for 24 hours or more. The primary outcome was the risk of survival at day 90, adjusted for predefined covariates and baseline differences, allowing us to reduce the bias resulting from confounding factors in observational studies. A systematic review was conducted including studies published from 1966 to December 2016. RESULTS: Among the 1086 included patients, 545 (51.7%) developed ICH (143 treated and 402 not treated with CHT). In patients with ICH, the relative risk of survival at day 90 with CHT was 1.43 (95% CI, 0.99-2.06, p = 0.05). The adjusted hazard ratio for survival was 1.74 (95% CI, 1.36-2.23, p < 0.001) in propensity-score-adjusted analysis. At day 90, favourable outcomes (Glasgow Outcome Scale 4-5) occurred in 45.2% of treated patients with ICH and in 35.8% of patients with ICH not treated with CHT (p = 0.06). A review of the literature including 1304 patients from eight studies suggests that CHT is associated with a reduction of in-ICU mortality (intervention, 112/474 deaths (23.6%) vs. control, 244/781 deaths (31.2%); OR 1.42 (95% CI, 1.04-1.95), p = 0.03, I 2 = 15%). CONCLUSIONS: CHT for the treatment of posttraumatic ICH was associated with improved adjusted 90-day survival. This result was strengthened by a review of the literature.

Extubation Success Prediction in a Multicentric Cohort of Patients with Severe Brain Injury.

BACKGROUND: Patients with brain injury are at high risk of extubation failure. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational cohort study in four intensive care units of three university hospitals. The aim of the study was to create a score that could predict extubation success in patients with brain injury. RESULTS: A total of 437 consecutive patients with brain injury were included, and 338 patients (77.3%) displayed successful extubation. In the multivariate analysis, four features were associated with success the day of extubation: age less than 40 yr, visual pursuit, swallowing attempts, and a Glasgow coma score greater than 10. In the score, each item counted as one. A score of 3 or greater was associated with 90% extubation success. The area under the receiver-operator curve was 0.75 (95% CI, 0.69 to 0.81). After internal validation by bootstrap, the area under the receiver-operator curve was 0.73 (95% CI, 0.68 to 0.79). Extubation success was significantly associated with shorter duration of mechanical ventilation (11 [95% CI, 5 to 17 days] vs. 22 days [95% CI, 13 to 29 days]; P < 0.0001), shorter intensive care unit length of stay (15 [95% CI, 9 to 23 days] vs. 27 days [95% CI, 21 to 36 days]; P < 0.0001), and lower in-intensive care unit mortality (4 [1.2%] vs. 11 [11.1%]; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Our score exploring both airway functions and neurologic status may increase the probability of successful extubation in patients with severe brain injury.

Speckle-Tracking analysis of left ventricular systolic function in the intensive care unit.

Speckle-tracking analysis is a new available tool in order to assess left ventricular function in cardiology. Its novelty relies on the technological ability to track natural acoustic markers (known as speckle) within the myocardium during the cardiac cycle. This technology allows the evaluation of myocardium strain during systole and diastole. To date, global longitudinal strain (GLS) has been extensively studied in cardiology. It is now well established that GLS is more sensitive than left ventricular ejection fraction with 2D echocardiography in detecting systolic function impairment. It is also superior to left ventricular ejection fraction in the prediction of major cardio-vascular events. In the intensive care unit (ICU) setting, data are scarce. In experimental model and human studies in septic shock, speckle-tracking analysis suggests that GSL is impaired along with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction. Recent data also suggest that GLS impairment could predict in-ICU mortality in septic shock. In severe subarachnoid haemorrhage patients, speckle-tracking analysis could be more sensitive in detecting stress cardiomyopathy. However, there are many gaps to fill in the critically ill patient. For instance, the influence of mechanical ventilation on GLS is not fully elucidated, and there are, to date, too few data to exactly assess potential GLS alterations on the patient's outcome. Nonetheless, this new tool provides objective and sensitive data with acceptable intra and inter-observer variability and may be of primary interest in the evaluation of left-ventricular systolic function in the ICU.

Implementation of an evidence-based extubation readiness bundle in 499 brain-injured patients. a before-after evaluation of a quality improvement project.

RATIONALE: Mechanical ventilation is associated with morbidity in patients with brain injury. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to assess the effectiveness of an extubation readiness bundle to decrease ventilator time in patients with brain injury. METHODS: Before-after design in two intensive care units (ICUs) in one university hospital. Brain-injured patients ventilated more than 24 hours were evaluated during two phases (a 3-yr control phase followed by a 22-mo intervention phase). Bundle components were protective ventilation, early enteral nutrition, standardization of antibiotherapy for hospital-acquired pneumonia, and systematic approach to extubation. The primary endpoint was the duration of mechanical ventilation. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A total of 299 and 200 patients, respectively, were analyzed in the control and the intervention phases of this before-after study. The intervention phase was associated with lower tidal volume (P < 0.01), higher positive end-expiratory pressure (P < 0.01), and higher enteral intake in the first 7 days (P = 0.01). The duration of mechanical ventilation was 14.9 ± 11.7 days in the control phase and 12.6 ± 10.3 days in the intervention phase (P = 0.02). The hazard ratio for extubation was 1.28 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-1.57; P = 0.02) in the intervention phase. Adjusted hazard ratio was 1.40 (95% CI, 1.12-1.76; P < 0.01) in multivariate analysis and 1.34 (95% CI, 1.03-1.74; P = 0.02) in propensity score-adjusted analysis. ICU-free days at Day 90 increased from 50 ± 33 in the control phase to 57 ± 29 in the intervention phase (P < 0.01). Mortality at Day 90 was 28.4% in the control phase and 23.5% in the intervention phase (P = 0.22). CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of an evidence-based extubation readiness bundle was associated with a reduction in the duration of ventilation in patients with brain injury.

Retrospective analysis of the risk factors and pathogens associated with early-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia in surgical-ICU head-trauma patients.

BACKGROUND: Early-onset ventilator associated pneumonia (EOVAP) are frequent in head-trauma patients, but specific risk factors are poorly studied in this population. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in a surgical intensive care unit. Consecutive severe head-trauma patients admitted from January 2000 to December 2002 were studied. Microorganisms, and risks factors for EOVAP were analyzed. RESULTS: During the 3-year period, 161 patients were studied; 21.1% of them developed an EOVAP. On univariate analysis 6 variables were associated with EOVAP: early enteral feeding, barbiturate use, immunosuppression, mean Simplified Acute Physiology Score 2, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and initial neurosurgery procedures. On multivariate analysis, enteral feeding >2000 Kcal before day 5 [odds ratio (OR): 0.33, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.21-0.85] and initial neurosurgical procedure (OR: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.15-0.89) remained protective factors for EOVAP, whereas immunosuppression (OR: 7.15, 95% CI: 1.66-30.73) and barbiturate use (OR: 2.68, 95% CI: 1.06-6.80) remained risk factors for EOVAP. EOVAP was also significantly associated with a longer duration of mechanical ventilation (14.0 vs. 11.0 d, P=0.024), and a longer sedation duration (8.3 vs. 5.8 d P=0.005). Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus was the most common pathogen involved in EOVAP (46%). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate for the first time that early enteral feeding is a protective factor for EOVAP, and this result could have clinical implications for the prevention of EOVAP after traumatic brain injury. This study also confirms that barbiturate use is an important risk factor of EOVAP whereas Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus was found to be the main pathogen involved in EOVAP.