Latest - Critical Care

• Review Shows That Pharma Payments Do Influence Prescribing While many physicians resist the idea that pharma payments influence their prescribing, a new review finds a dose-response relationship between the two.
  Medscape Medical News, November 27, 2020
• Utility of Biomarkers in Cardiac Amyloidosis This paper presents an overview of the utility of cardiac biomarkers in determining disease progression, response to therapies, and prognosis in patients with cardiac amyloidosis.
  JACC: Heart Failure, November 27, 2020
• ESO-WSO 2020 High Systolic BP After EVT for Stroke Tied to Poor Outcomes Greater disability and increased risk of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage are more likely if a patient has high blood pressure during the first 6 hours after undergoing endovascular therapy.
  Medscape Medical News, November 26, 2020
• Approval of COVID-19 Vaccines Will Change Nature of Clinical Trials Infectious disease experts agreed with ethicists that placebo-controlled trials would no longer be ethical, but said there are valid alternatives.
  Medscape Medical News, November 26, 2020
• Need a COVID-19 Nurse? That'll Be $8,000 a Week Early in the pandemic, hospitals were competing for ventilators, COVID tests, and personal protective equipment. Now, sites across the country are competing for nurses.
  Kaiser Health News, November 26, 2020
• Plasma From Recovered Patients Shows Little Benefit in Those Hospitalized With COVID-19: Study Using blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors to treat patients with severe pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus showed little benefit, according to data released on Tuesday from a clinical trial in Argentina.
  Reuters Health Information, November 24, 2020
• Miniature Lungs, Colons Help Test COVID-19 Treatments Tiny organ-like structures grown in the laboratory to behave like human lungs and colons can be used to rapidly screen drugs and identify those with potential as COVID-19 treatments, researchers reported in Nature.
  Reuters Health Information, November 23, 2020
• Hospitals in the Midwest Strapped for Beds, Staff With the number of COVID-19 inpatients tripling in the past 2 weeks alone, staff at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics say they feel like they've been called to war.
  Medscape Medical News, November 25, 2020
• 20 Best Holiday Gift Ideas for Doctors Everyone wants to select the right gift, and this year more than ever, people want to give something that shows appreciation for a favorite physician in their life. Here are some great suggestions.
  Medscape Features Slideshows, November 25, 2020
• AHA 2020 Resuscitation More Likely With Faster Time to Head-Up CPR A preliminary study employed a "package" consisting of a head-up positioning device and different devices for CPR, so "it's hard to know which component is most important," said one expert.
  Medscape Medical News, November 25, 2020
• Medical Leaders Launch Grassroots Doctors' Alliance Inaugural town hall introduces a movement to unite doctors behind a single issue: the restoration of the physician–patient relationship.
  Medscape Medical News, November 25, 2020
• Give the Coronavirus App Bonus Benefits to Increase Downloads, German State Says Germany's coronavirus tracing app needs to be made more compelling for users by offering fast-track entry to venues and queue jumping for events, according to a proposal by the government of Germany's most populous state.
  Reuters Health Information, November 24, 2020
• US Officials Plan to Release 6.4 Mln COVID-19 Vaccine Doses in First Distribution US officials said on Tuesday they plan to release 6.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses nationwide in an initial distribution after the first one is cleared by regulators for emergency use.
  Reuters Health Information, November 24, 2020
• Amazon, Pharma Firms Should Help COVID-19 Vaccine Reach Poorest: German Minister Companies that have benefitted from the coronavirus crisis, such as Amazon and drugmakers, should join wealthy countries in helping to fund access to vaccines for poorer nations, Germany's international development minister said on Tuesday.
  Reuters Health Information, November 24, 2020
• AstraZeneca Must Prove It Won't Profit From COVID-19 Vaccine: MSF AstraZeneca must provide reassurance that it will not profit from its potential COVID-19 vaccine, nongovernmental organization Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Tuesday, urging the company to make public its supply contracts.
  Reuters Health Information, November 24, 2020
• 'We're Drowning': COVID Cases Flood Hospitals in America's Heartland Dr. Drew Miller knew his patient had to be moved. The vital signs of the 30-year-old COVID-19 victim were crashing, and Kearny County Hospital in rural Lakin, Kansas, just wasn't equipped to handle the case.
  Reuters Health Information, November 24, 2020
• Swedish Watchdog Finds Serious Failures in COVID Care at Nursing Homes Sweden's health watchdog said on Tuesday it had uncovered 'serious shortcoming' in COVID-19 care for residents of nursing homes where thousands have died, increasing pressure on the country's unorthodox pandemic strategy.
  Reuters Health Information, November 24, 2020
• Nursing Homes Will Be First to Get COVID-19 Vaccine in Spain Elderly residents and staff in nursing homes will be the first to get vaccinated against the coronavirus in Spain, starting as early as January, Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Tuesday, unveiling a national vaccination plan.
  Reuters Health Information, November 24, 2020
• US to Begin Distributing Regeneron's COVID-19 Antibody Therapy Tuesday The US government will start distributing Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc's newly authorized COVID-19 antibody combination on Tuesday, beginning with over 30,000 treatment courses, a health official said on Monday.
  Reuters Health Information, November 24, 2020
• Rural Areas Send Their Sickest Patients to Cities Critically ill rural patients are often sent to city hospitals for high-level treatment, and as their numbers grow, some urban hospitals are buckling under the added strain.
  Kaiser Health News, November 25, 2020