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Biomedical subjects

B E Field

Publications and source records attributed to B E Field.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Management of the patient with do not resuscitate status: compassion and cost containment.

An interdisciplinary approach to the management of patients with do not resuscitate status on a supportive care team is an alternative to traditional intensive care unit management. This approach focuses on the physical, psychological, and spiritual needs of the patient and family. We describe our experience with 131 patients managed by the supportive care team that resulted in humane care of dying patients and reduced hospital costs as evidenced by reduced Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System values. Although our goal is comprehensive terminal care, financial savings have resulted as well. We describe the elements of care that contribute to compassionate management and to reduced interventions and costs. This approach may have application in other critical care settings that are faced with the same challenges of providing humane care to hopelessly ill patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Left ventricular diastolic function in sepsis.

Although systolic dysfunction of the left ventricle has been characterized in septic shock (SS) and sepsis without shock (SWS), diastolic abnormalities are less well characterized. Diastolic filling was determined using pulsed Doppler transmitral spectral tracings in 13 patients with SS, ten patients with SWS, and 33 normal controls. Diastolic filling variables and heart rate were similar in patients with SS and SWS. The SS and SWS patients had an abnormal pattern of diastolic filling compared with controls and were characterized by an increase in peak atrial velocity (70 +/- 20 cm/sec SS, 84 +/- 18 cm/sec SWS vs. 56 +/- 11 cm/sec controls, p less than .05), decreased peak rapid filling velocity/peak atrial filling velocity (1.1 +/- 0.3, SS, 1.1 +/- 0.2 SWS vs. 1.5 +/- 0.4 controls, p less than .05), increased atrial filling fraction (39 +/- 11 SS, 42 +/- 6 SWS vs. 30 +/- 10 controls, p less than .05) and prolongation of atrial filling period as a function of the diastolic filling period (0.48 +/- 0.10 SS, 0.43 +/- 0.10 SWS vs. 0.30 +/- 0.07 controls, p less than .05). Heart rate was higher in SS and SWS compared with controls (116 +/- 15 beat/min SS, 110 +/- 26 beat/min SWS vs. 73 +/- 12 beat/min controls, p less than .05). In patients with SS and SWS, there is increased reliance on atrial systolic contribution to diastolic filling. We conclude that diastolic dysfunction occurs with systemic infections.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Impact of a comprehensive supportive care team on management of hopelessly ill patients with multiple organ failure.

We developed a supportive care team for hopelessly ill patients in an urban emergency/trauma hospital. The team includes a clinical nurse specialist and a faculty physician as well as a chaplain and social worker. The supportive care team provides an alternative to intensive care or conventional ward management of hopelessly ill patients and concentrates on the physical and psychosocial comfort needs of patients and their families. We describe our experience with 20 hopelessly ill patients with multiple organ failure vs a similar group treated before the development of the supportive care team. Although there was no difference in mortality (100 percent), the length of stay in the medical ICU for patients with multiple organ failure decreased by 12 days to 6 days. Additionally, there were 50 percent fewer therapeutic interventions provided by the supportive care team vs intensive care or conventional ward treatment of multiple organ failure patients. We describe the methods that the supportive care team uses in an attempt to meet the physical and psychosocial comfort needs of hopelessly ill multiple organ failure patients and their families. This multidisciplinary approach to the care of the hopelessly ill may have applications in other institutions facing the ethical, medical, and administrative challenges raised by these patients.

Critical Care↗
PubMed1979

Nasogastric suction in alcoholic pancreatitis.

In order to assess the usefulness of nasogastric suction in acute alcoholic pancreatitis, 37 patients with alcoholic pancreatitis were prospectively investigated. The study failed to demonstrate efficacy of nasogastric suction in those patients with mild disease. Application of a system of prognostic signs proved useful in discriminating between mild and severe disease. Routine use of ultrasound examinations detected three pancreatic pseudocysts before they became clinically apparent. In instituting appropriate therapy in mild pancreatitis, factors such as patient comfort should be considered in the absence of proven significant value of nasogastric suction.

Adult↗