ABSTRACT Objective To analyze the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, a continental-sized country, considered as an emerging economy but with several regional nuances, focusing on the availability of human resources, especially for intensive care units. Methods The database of the National Registry of Health Facilities was accessed. Healthcare professionals in the care of COVID-19 were georeferenced. We correlated the number of professionals with the parameters used by the World Health Organization. According to the Brazilian Intensive Care Medicine Association, we correlated […]

ABSTRACT Objective To explore an artificial intelligence approach based on gradient-boosted decision trees for prediction of all-cause mortality at an intensive care unit, comparing its performance to a recent logistic regression system in the literature, and a logistic regression model built on the same platform. Methods A gradient-boosted decision trees model and a logistic regression model were trained and tested with the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care database. The 1-hour resolution physiological measurements of adult patients, collected during 5 […]

ABSTRACT Objective: To propose a preliminary artificial intelligence model, based on artificial neural networks, for predicting the risk of nosocomial infection at intensive care units. Methods: An artificial neural network is designed that employs supervised learning. The generation of the datasets was based on data derived from the Japanese Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system. It is studied how the Java Neural Network Simulator learns to categorize these patients to predict their risk of nosocomial infection. The simulations are performed with several […]

ABSTRACT In December 2019, a series of patients with severe pneumonia were identified in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, who progressed to severe acute respiratory syndrome and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Subsequently, COVID-19 was attributed to a new betacoronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Approximately 20% of patients diagnosed as COVID-19 develop severe forms of the disease, including acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, severe acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute renal failure and require intensive care. […]

ABSTRACT Objective To adapt an antibiotic dose adjustment software initially developed in English, to Portuguese and to the Brazilian context. Methods This was an observational, descriptive study in which the Delphi method was used to establish consensus among specialists from different health areas, with questions addressing the visual and operational aspects of the software. In a second stage, a pilot experimental study was performed with the random comparison of patients for evaluation and adaptation of the software in the real […]

ABSTRACT Objective: To characterize severe potential drug interactions in maternal intensive care, and to determine their frequency, risk factors and potential risk medications. Methods: An observational and longitudinal study conducted between December 2014 and December 2015 in a maternal intensive care unit. Clinical data were collected and severe potential drug interactions were identified on pregnant inpatients. The drug interactions were classified by type, prevalence and exposure rate. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify the severe potential drug […]

ABSTRACT Objective: To determine whether pre-hospital statin use is associated with lower renal replacement therapy requirement and/or death during intensive care unit stay. Methods: Prospective cohort analysis. We analyzed 670 patients consecutively admitted to the intensive care unit of an academic tertiary-care hospital. Patients with ages ranging from 18 to 80 years admitted to the intensive care unit within the last 48 hours were included in the study. Results: Mean age was 66±16.1 years old, mean body mass index 26.6±4/9kg/m2 […]

ABSTRACT Objective: To estimate the workload and size the nursing team using the scales TISS-28 and NEMS in a pediatric intensive care unit. Methods: An observational prospective study with a quantitative approach was conducted at the pediatric intensive care unit of a university hospital from Jan 1st, 2009 to Dec 31st, 2009. All children who remained hospitalized for more than 8 hours were included, with length of stay of 4 hours in case of death. Clinical data were collected and […]

ABSTRACT Objective To compare mechanical ventilation time, need for non-invasive ventilation, length of intensive care unit stay, and hospital stay after liver transplant in cirrhotic patients with and with no diagnosis of hepatopulmonary syndrome. Methods This was a prospective cohort study with a convenience sample of 178 patients (92 with hepatopulmonary syndrome) who were diagnosed as alcoholic or hepatitis C virus cirrhosis. The statistical analysis included Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Students t test. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0, and […]

ABSTRACT Objective To assess whether the spontaneous breathing test can predict the extubation failure in pediatric population. Methods A prospective and observational study that evaluated data of inpatients at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit between May 2011 and August 2013, receiving mechanical ventilation for at least 24 hours followed by extubation. The patients were classified in two groups: Test Group, with patients extubated after spontaneous breathing test, and Control Group, with patients extubated without spontaneous breathing test. Results A total […]