Background Multiple interventions were made to optimize the medication process in our intensive care unit (ICU). 1 Transcriptions from the medical order form to the administration plan were eliminated by merging both into a single document; 2 the new form was built in a logical sequence exactly and was highly structured to promote completeness and standardization of information; 3 frequently used drug names, approved units, and fixed routes were pre-printed; 4 physicians and nurses were trained with regard to the correct Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries use of the new form. This study was aimed at evaluating the impact of these interventions on clinically significant types of medication errors. Methods Eight types of medication errors were measured by a prospective chart review before and after the interventions in the ICU of a public tertiary care hospital.

We used an interrupted Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries time-series design to control the secular trends. Results Over 85 days, 9298 lines of drug prescription and/or administration to 294 patients, corresponding to 754 patient-days were collected and analysed for the three series before and three series following the intervention. Global error rate decreased from 4.95 to 2.14% (-56.8%, P?<?0.001). Conclusions The safety of the medication process in our ICU was improved by simple and inexpensive interventions. In addition to the optimization of the prescription writing process, the documentation of intravenous preparation, and the scheduling of administration, the elimination of the transcription Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries in combination with the training of users contributed to reducing errors and carried an interesting potential to increase safety.

Background Acute respiratory insufficiency characterised critically ill patients during the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic 20092010. Detailed understanding of disease progression and outcome in relation to different respiratory support strategies is important. Methods Data collected between August 2009 and February 2010 for a national intensive care unit influenza registry were GSK-3 combined with cases identified by the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control. Results Clinical data was available for 95% (126/136) of the critically ill cases of influenza. Median age was 44 years, and major co-morbidities were present in 41%. Respiratory support strategies were studied among the 110 adult patients.

Supplementary oxygen was sufficient in 15% (16), non-invasive ventilation (NIV) only was used in 20% (22), while transition from NIV to invasive ventilation (IV) was seen in 41% (45). IV was initiated directly in 24% (26). Patients initially treated with NIV had a higher inhibitor arterial partial pressure of oxygen/fraction of oxygen in inspired gas ratio compared with those primarily treated with IV. Major baseline characteristics and 28-day mortality were similar, but 90-day mortality was higher in patients initially treated with NIV 17/67 (25%) as compared with patients primarily treated with IV 3/26 (12%), relative risk 1.