Intensive Care Unit

New faculty Makayla Cordoza will work with VUMC patients to assess their quality of sleep before and during hospitalization, to better understand how to prevent ICU delirium. Read More

For patients in pediatric intensive care who are at high risk for acute kidney injury (AKI), giving clinicians automated decision support during the electronic order entry process increased the rate of blood testing for AKI by 9%. Read More

The cognitive impairment that affects patients who survive a stay in the ICU does not appear to have a similar mechanism to Alzheimer’s disease, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered. Read More

With other risk factors held equal, children who received a benzodiazepine sedative drug were nearly three times more likely to experience delirium – confused thought – the following day. Read More

Facilitated reporting of medication-related events in the intensive care unit can provide opportunities for optimizing quality of care and patient safety. Read More

In a first-of-its-kind study of veterans and civilians, researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center found that one in 10 patients is at risk of having a new post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following their time in the intensive care unit (ICU). Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers have found that bathing critically ill patients with disposable chlorhexidine cloths did not decrease the incidence of health care-associated infections when compared to less expensive nonantimicrobial cloths, according to a study appearing online in JAMA this week. Read More

Patients who suffer a longer duration of delirium in the intensive care unit are more likely to experience long-term disability after discharge. Read More

A recent Vanderbilt study shows a significant number of patients are entering I.C.U.’s throughout the world with no evidence of cognitive — brain related issues, but are leaving with symptoms associated with mild Alzheimer’s or Traumatic Brain Injury. Barb Cramer has more. Read More

Study suggests that the “kynurenine” biochemical pathway could be a target for reducing delirium and coma in critically ill patients. Read More