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Biomedical subjects

Mark T Keegan

Publications and source records attributed to Mark T Keegan.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Mortality rate and length of stay of patients admitted to the intensive care unit in July.

OBJECTIVE: At the beginning of each academic year in July, inexperienced residents and fellows begin to care for patients. This inexperience can lead to poor patient outcome, especially in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The objective of this study was to determine the impact of July ICU admission on patient outcome. DESIGN: Retrospective, cohort study. SETTING: Academic, tertiary medical center. PATIENTS: Patients admitted to the ICU from October 1994 through September 2002. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Demographics, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III score and predicted mortality, admission source, admission date, intensity of treatment, ICU length of stay (LOS), and hospital mortality of 29,084 patients were obtained. The actual and predicted weighted ICU LOS and their ratio were calculated. Logistic regression analysis was used to compare the hospital mortality rate of patients admitted to the ICU in July with those admitted during the rest of the year, with adjustment for potentially confounding variables. The patients' mean age was 62.3 +/- 17.6 yrs; 57.3% were male and 95.5% white. Both the customized predicted and observed hospital mortality rates of the entire cohort were 8.2%. The majority (76.7%) of the patients were discharged home, and 15.1% were discharged to other facilities. When adjusted for potentially confounding variables, ICU admission in July was not associated with higher hospital mortality rate compared with any other month. There were no significant differences in the discharge location of patients between July and any one of the other months. There were no statistically significant differences in the weighted ICU LOS ratio between July and any of the other months. CONCLUSIONS: ICU admission in July is not associated with increased hospital mortality rate or ICU length of stay.

APACHE↗
PubMed2004

The hospital mortality of patients admitted to the ICU on weekends.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have suggested that patients are more likely to die in the hospital if they are admitted on a weekend than on a weekday. This study was conducted to determine whether weekend admission to the ICU increases the risk of dying in the hospital. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: ICU of a single tertiary care medical center. PATIENTS: A total of 29,084 patients admitted to medical, surgical, and multispecialty ICUs from October 1994 through September 2002. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The weekend ICU admissions comprised 27.9% of all ICU admissions (8,108 ICU admissions). The overall hospital mortality rate was 8.2% (2,385 deaths). Weekend ICU admission was associated with a higher unadjusted hospital mortality rate than that for weekday ICU admission (11.3% vs 7.0%, respectively; odds ratio [OR], 1.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.55 to 1.85). In multivariable analyses controlling for the factors associated with mortality such as APACHE (acute physiology and chronic health evaluation) III predicted mortality rate, ICU admission source, and intensity of treatment, no statistically significant difference in hospital mortality was found between weekend and weekday admissions in the overall study population (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.17). For weekend ICU admissions, the observed hospital mortality rates of the medical, multispecialty, and surgical ICUs were 15.2%, 17.2%, and 6.4%, respectively, and for weekday ICU admissions the rates were 16.3%, 10.1%, and 3.5%, respectively. Subgroup analyses showed that weekend ICU admission was associated with higher adjusted hospital mortality rates than was weekday ICU admission in the surgical ICU (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.48), but not in the medical or multispecialty ICUs. CONCLUSIONS: The overall adjusted hospital mortality rate of patients admitted to the ICU on a weekend was not higher than that of patients admitted on a weekday. However, weekend ICU admission to the surgical ICU was associated with an increased hospital mortality rate.

APACHE↗
PubMed2004

Identifying potentially ineffective care in the sickest critically ill patients on the third ICU day.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if an increase in the third-ICU-day acute physiology score (APS) of the APACHE (acute physiology and chronic health evaluation) III prognostic system can identify potentially ineffective care. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Academic medical center. PATIENTS: Adult patients with first-ICU-day predicted mortality rate > or = 80%. MEASUREMENTS: Demographics, ICU admission source, admission type, ICU admission diagnosis, first- and third-ICU-day APSs, APACHE III score, APACHE III-predicted hospital mortality, hospital discharge status, 100-day survival, and ICU and hospital length of stay. RESULTS: A total of 302 patients (age [mean +/- SD], 64.7 +/- 15.8 years; 54.3% male gender) were included in the study. Respiratory failure was the most common reason for ICU admission. Nonoperative admissions accounted for 94.7%. The first- and third-ICU-day APSs were 106.8 +/- 19.8 and 70.5 +/- 29.9, respectively. The first- and third-ICU-day predicted hospital mortality rates were 87.8 +/- 5.3% and 86.5 +/- 14.8%, respectively. The hospital mortality rate was 61.3%, and the 100-day survival rate 28.5%. The third-ICU-day APS was higher than the first-ICU-day APS in 34 patients (11.3%). Only 2 of these 34 patients (6%) survived to hospital discharge, compared to 115 of 268 patients (43%) without an increase in APS (p < 0.0001). Of the two hospital survivors with increased APS, only one patient survived 100 days after hospital discharge. In predicting 100-day mortality, the sensitivity of an increase in the third-ICU-day APS was 15.3% (95% confidence interval, 11.1 to 20.7%), specificity was 98.8% (95% confidence interval, 93.7 to 99.8%), positive predictive value was 97.1% (95% confidence interval, 85.1 to 99.5%), and negative predictive value was 31.7% (95% confidence interval, 26.4 to 37.5%). CONCLUSIONS: A higher APS on the third ICU day, compared to the first ICU day, identifies potentially ineffective care in patients with the first-day predicted hospital mortality rate > or = 80%.

APACHE↗
PubMed2002

Fast track anesthesia for liver transplantation reduces postoperative ventilation time but not intensive care unit stay.

Fast tracking is an approach to health care delivery that emphasizes the efficient use of resources. This investigation was designed to determine whether shorter-acting drugs and different drug administration practices reduce the length of time for which patients require mechanical ventilation and intensive care after liver transplantation. After obtaining Institutional Review Board approval and informed consent, we randomized 80 consecutive patients (>17 years) undergoing liver transplantation to receive either our traditional anesthetic (thiopental, pancuronium, 50 microg/kg fentanyl), or fast track anesthetic (propofol, cisatracurium, 20 microg/kg fentanyl). The patients were weaned to extubation in the intensive care unit after an established clinical protocol. Measured data included the occurrence of intraoperative hypotension, intraoperative hypertension, intraoperative tachycardia, the length of postoperative mechanical ventilation, length of intensive care unit stay, and episodes of reintubation. Seventy-eight patients remained in the study through the investigation (two died intraoperatively). Operating time; amount of intraoperative red blood cells transfused; lowest body temperature achieved; and minutes of intraoperative hypotension, hypertension, and tachycardia were not different between the traditional and fast track patient groups. Postoperative ventilation time was greater in the patients who received the traditional anesthetic; mean. 1,081 minutes (median, 855) versus mean, 553.5 minutes (median, 390) (P <.001). However, there was no difference in length of intensive care unit stay. Five patients required reintubation (two patients given the traditional anesthetic, three given the fast track anesthetic). We conclude that a fast track approach to anesthetic care reduces the requirement for postoperative mechanical ventilation, but does not reduce intensive care unit stay after liver transplantation.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

The use of the intubating laryngeal mask endotracheal tube with intubating devices.

IMPLICATIONS: Despite adequate visualization of the vocal cords using specialized airway devices, anatomical factors and the physical characteristics of the tube may cause difficulty when performing endotracheal intubation. The endotracheal tube designed for use with the intubating laryngeal mask airway may facilitate intubation in these circumstances.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Hypocalcemia-like electrocardiographic changes after administration of intravenous fosphenytoin.

Fosphenytoin is a prodrug that is metabolized by phosphatases to yield the antiepileptic drug phenytoin plus inorganic phosphate. Thus, fosphenytoin can theoretically alter the electrocardiogram by 2 mechanisms: the direct effects of phenytoin on cardiac conduction and on phosphate binding of calcium, which could indirectly alter cardiac conduction as a result of hypocalcemia. We report the case of a 23-year-old man, weight 73 kg, with a known but untreated seizure disorder who was given prophylactic fosphenytoin, 1500-mg phenytoin equivalents over 85 minutes by intravenous infusion. The patient was normocalcemic before drug infusion. Fosphenytoin produced electrocardiographic changes (prolongation of the ST segment and the QT interval and merging of the T and P waves) consistent with hypocalcemia, and these changes were associated with new-onset reductions in both total and ionized serum calcium concentrations. Plasma phenytoin concentrations were within the therapeutic range during the electrocardiographic changes, and the patient's blood pressure was stable. We interpret these findings as fosphenytoin-related electrocardiographic changes likely attributable to inorganic phosphate-induced hypocalcemia.

Abdominal Pain↗