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Mortality rates of critically ill patients have decreased markedly in recent years thanks to advancements in care. Given the improved survival rates of critically ill patients, investigators have broadened their focus from short-term mortality to long-term mortality and morbidities that are often under recognized by intensive care unit (ICU) practitioners. The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) has defined post–intensive care syndrome (PICS) as a new or worsening decrement in mental, cognitive, or physical health following critical illness that persists beyond the acute hospitalization. Many medication-related risk factors are associated with development of cognitive impairment in critically ill patients, including glucose dysregulation, delirium, and medications. Medications have also been associated with acute neuromuscular weakness following an ICU admission. In the past decade, the increased risk of adverse drug events (ADEs) during transitions of care has become widely known. This column focuses on how medication management strategies in the ICU, after the ICU, and after hospitalization may prevent or help manage PICS

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This guidance considers the likely psychological needs of people who have been hospitalized with severe coronavirus (Covid-19), and the most effective ways to support their recovery.

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This quality standard covers diagnosing and managing bacterial meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia in children and young people (under 16). It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.
How to use NICE quality standards and how we develop them
Quality standards help you improve the quality of care you provide or commission. Find out  how to use quality standards  and how we develop them. We check our quality standards every August to make sure they are up to date.

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Patients recovering from COVID-19 may face a second battle -- coping with the disease's mental health ramifications.
This is particularly true for the sickest of the sick who required time in the ICU and intubation. These patients may experience "post-intensive care syndrome" (PICS) that could manifest as a combination of physical, cognitive, and mental health impairments following an ICU stay for a critical illness.

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Syracuse, N.Y. – Shanica Echols was discharged from the hospital last spring after a two-week stay with Covid-19.
A year later, she still suffers lingering symptoms. She still gets winded on the stairs in her two-story house.
“I get exhausted climbing the steps,” said Echols, a traveling nurse. “I’ll climb the steps and then sit down in my room for a little bit before I do what I came upstairs to do.”
Greg Jenkins’s eyes water when he slices an onion. But he can’t smell it. Eight months after being diagnosed with Covid-19, Jenkins still has diminished taste and smell. He, too, has a hard time climbing the stairs. A singer, he’s had to relearn songs, inserting more breaths into his phrasing.
“I get short of breath really easy. I get fatigued really easy. My muscles just ache horribly,” said Jenkins, 58. “My sense of smell is shot. Once in a while I smell something, but I can’t tell what it is.
“I’m a long hauler.”
Potentially millions of Americans are long haulers like Echols and Jenkins. Six or more months after they became sick with Covid-19, they suffer the effects of “long covid,” with lingering symptoms such as shortness of breath, racing or irregular heart beats, fatigue, loss of sense of smell, and one of the most common and confounding symptoms, short-term memory lost labeled “brain fog.”

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These standards cover the entire burn care pathway and aims to provide the means to measure the capability of individual burn services as a whole and the ODN in which they operate. By defining standards, a governance framework is established against which it is possible to measure the quality of burn care that patients receive, regardless of their point of entry into a specialist Burn Care Service. Thus, at some stage in the future, Burn Care Services will need to be assessed for compliance with the standards and outcomes set out in the document. It is hoped that by doing so, equitable provision of burn care will be ensured for patients and their families.

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Three Part Question
In [patients with definite pulmonary embolus] can a [low/negative BNP/NT-proBNP result] predict [low risk of death / adverse outcome?]
Clinical Scenario
A patient presents with a few days history of pleuritic chest pain. All clinical findings and investigations are normal except for a raised d-dimer. A high probability V/Q scan confirms the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. The patient is very keen to be discharged. You are aware that right ventricular strain is associated with a poor outcome in pulmonary embolism and you also know that B natriuretic peptides are raised in the presence of ventricular strain. You wonder if a low B natriuretic peptide level could be used to confirm the absence of ventricular stain and low risk of death or serious complications, therefore suggesting suitability for outpatient management.
Search Strategy
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EMBASE and Ovid Medline through Ovid interface, January 2015.

[bnp.mp. OR brain natriuretic peptide.mp. OR natriuretic peptide.mp. OR NT-proBNP.mp. OR proBNP.mp.] AND [pulmonary embolism.mp. OR pe.mp. OR thromboembolic disease.mp. OR lung embolism.mp.] LIMIT to english language and human (Limit not valid in CDSR)

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Although we are almost a year into the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there is still much about the virus that we do not know. Post-recovery patients are likely to suffer substantial sequelae, but it is difficult to say exactly what these might be. To better understand and anticipate such, investigators are reviewing data from patients who recovered from sepsis. Research shows previously septic patients have increased mortality, physical disabilities, cognitive impairment, recurrent infections, and overall health deterioration for at least the following 2 years. The pandemic's impact will likely trigger enormous aftershocks in recovery and rehabilitation services. Anticipating possible scenarios now will help psychiatrists and other medical professionals prepare for effective treatment later.

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Oxford mental health researchers have published new guidelines and provide free resources for treating patients experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following admission to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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PLATTSBURGH — There is a gap in care when people leave the ICU and return to their lives.
To help those suffering after an ICU admission, a Post Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) Support Group was launched at the University of Vermont Health Network, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh.

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This overview of the NHS newborn hearing screening programme (NHSP) explains how a baby’s hearing is tested, and the equipment used for the tests.

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Annually, about five million patients stay in an intensive care unit in the United States. Studies show that up to 35 percent may have symptoms of PTSD for as long as two years after that experience, particularly if they had a prolonged stay due to a critical illness with severe infection or respiratory failure. Those persistent symptoms include intrusive thoughts, avoidant behaviors, mood swings, emotional numbness and reckless behavior.