ICU survivors at increased risk of suicide and self-harm after discharge

Hands holding yellow gold ribbon over blue sky, Sarcoma Awareness, Bone cancer, childhood cancer awareness, September yellow, World Suicide Prevention Day, endometriosis day concept

Charlotte Huggett reviews a recent Canadian population-based cohort study, which examines rates of suicide and self-harm in adult survivors of critical illness.

[read the full story...]

Ventilator-associated pneumonia: Does toothbrushing with chlorhexidine reduce risk?

shutterstock_19406029

This review of the effect of toothbrushing and chlorhexidine on the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in patients on mechanical ventilation included 7 RCTs. The findings showed that toothbrushing and chlorhexidine reduced VAP,length of stay and duration of ventilation. However the findings should be interpreted cautiously because of study quality.

[read the full story...]

Mental health difficulties commonly reported by ICU staff during the pandemic

vladimir-fedotov-YLmPK-XA1cM-unsplash

Nada Seif reviews a recent survey study on self-reported mental health problems in ICU staff working during the UK 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

[read the full story...]

Review finds that oral care that included chlorhexidine use reduced ventilator associated pneumonia

shutterstock_19406029

We have previously looked at a review and a number of studies addressing the issue of oral hygiene and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and (Dental Elf May 20th 2013). A new Cochrane review has just been published which aimed to assess the effects of oral hygiene care (OHC) on the incidence of VAP in critically ill [read the full story…]

Oral swabbing with chlorhexidine reduced risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia

shutterstock_19406029

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) can be life threatening and its link with good mouth care is a topic we have covered before on Dental Elf (18th April 2012 and  28th Nov 2011). The aim of this study was to evaluate whether oral swabbing with 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHX) decreases the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in [read the full story…]