Multidisciplinary team perception of games-based therapy in critical care: A service evaluation.

BACKGROUND: As survivorship following critical illness improves, there is greater focus on maximizing recovery. As well as physical effects, critical illness often results in cognitive impairments such as delirium, anxiety, or disorientation. In other populations, such as delirium, non-pharmacological approaches to manage these conditions are preferred, including re-orientation and ensuring personal care needs are met. Cognitive rehabilitation is also well documented for patients with neuropsychological deficits. Treatments include memory aids, compensation strategies, and functional execution. In other hospital populations, games and activities have been utilized to optimize patient engagement, stimulation, and aid recovery, but it is considered an emerging therapy in intensive care. AIMS: This service evaluation aimed to gather multidisciplinary team members' perceptions of the use of games based therapy (GBT) in critical care, including patient engagement and acceptability in clinical practice. STUDY DESIGN: A UK-based single-centre qualitative service evaluation. Purposive sampling was used to identify interviewees within an adult intensive care who had experience of using a recently implemented GBT intervention. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews, which were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Eight staff members across the multidisciplinary team were interviewed. One overarching theme of humanizing health care was identified, with three sub-themes of enhancing recovery, non-physical components of care, and bespoke tailoring. In addition, further recommendations for development of the service were summarized. CONCLUSION: GBT was well received by staff in clinical practice. It was described as a supportive adjunct to traditional care and rehabilitation, enhancing staff-patient relationships. While it was recognized it may not suit all patients, GBT has the potential to enhance cognitive and physical recovery.

Hemodynamic consequences of ketamine vs etomidate for endotracheal intubation in the air medical setting.

OBJECTIVE: Recent drug shortages have required the occasional replacement of etomidate for endotracheal intubation (ETI) by helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS), with ketamine. The purpose of this study was to assess whether there was an association between ketamine vs etomidate use as the main ETI drug, with hemodynamic or clinical (airway) end points. METHODS: This retrospective study used data entered into medical records at the time of HEMS transport. Subjects, 50 ketamine and 50 etomidate, were accrued from 3 US HEMS programs. The study period was from August 2011 through May 2012. Data collection included demographics, diagnostic category, ETI drugs use, ETI success, and complications. Hemodynamic parameters were assessed for up to 2 sets of vital signs before airway management and up to 5 sets of post-ETI vital signs. Significance was defined at the P < .05 level. RESULTS: Patients on ketamine and etomidate were similar (P > .05) with respect to age, sex, scene/interfacility mission type, trauma vs nontrauma, neuromuscular blocking agent use, and rates of coadministration of fentanyl or midazolam. All patients had successful airway placement. Peri-ETI hypoxemia was seen in 10% of etomidate and 16% of ketamine cases (P = .55). The pre-ETI and post-ETI were similar between the ketamine and etomidate groups with respect to systolic blood pressure and heart rate at every vital signs assessment after ETI. CONCLUSION: Initial assessment of ETI success and complication rates, as well as peri-ETI hemodynamic changes, suggests no concerning complications associated with large-scale replacement of etomidate with ketamine as the major airway management drug for HEMS.

Airway management success and hypoxemia rates in air and ground critical care transport: a prospective multicenter study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess critical care transport (CCT) crews' endotracheal intubation (ETI) attempts, success rates, and peri-ETI oxygenation. METHODS: Participants were adult and pediatric patients undergoing attempted advanced airway management during the period from July 2007 to December 2008 by crews from 11 CCT programs varying in geography, crew configuration, and casemix; all crews had access to neuromuscular-blocking agents. Data collected included airway management variables defined per national consensus criteria. Descriptive analysis focused on ETI success rates (reported with exact binomial 95% confidence intervals [CIs]) and occurrence of new hypoxemia (oxygen saturation [SpO(2)] dropping below 90% during or after ETI); to assess categorical variables, Fisher's exact test, Pearson chi(2), and logistic regression were employed to explore associations between predictor variables and ETI failure or new hypoxemia. For all tests, p < 0.05 defined significance. RESULTS: There were 603 total attempts at airway management, with successful oral or nasal ETI in 582 cases, or 96.5% (95% CI 94.7-97.8%). In 182 cases (30.2%, 95% CI 26.5-34.0%), there were failed ETI attempts prior to CCT crew arrival; CCT crew ETI success on these patients (96.2%, 95% CI 92.2-98.4%) was just as high as in the patients in whom there was no pre-CCT ETI attempt (p = 0.81). New hypoxemia occurred in only six cases (1.6% of the 365 cases with ongoing SpO(2) monitoring; 95% CI 0.6-3.5%); the only predictor of new hypoxemia was pre-ETI hypotension (p < 0.001). A requirement for multiple ETI attempts by CCT crews was not associated with new hypoxemia (Fisher's exact p = 0.13). CONCLUSIONS: CCT crews' ETI success rates were very high, and even when ETI required multiple attempts, airway management was rarely associated with SpO(2) derangement. CCT crews' ETI success rates were equally high in the subset of patients in whom ground emergency medical services (EMS) ETI failed prior to arrival of transport crews.

The 2003 Air Medical Leadership Congress: findings and recommendations.

To address important concerns facing the air medical community, 149 air medical transport leaders, providers, consultants, and experts met September 4-6, 2003, in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a 3-day summit-the Air Medical Leadership Congress: Setting the Health Care Agenda for the Air Medical Community. Using data from a Web-based survey, top air medical transport issues were identified in four core areas: safety, medical care, cost/benefit, and regulatory/compliance. This report reviews the findings of previous congresses and summarizes the discussions, findings, recommendations, and proposed industry actions to address these issues as set forth by the 2003 congress participants.