Despite widespread awareness and use of scientifi cally proven life-prolonging medical and device-based therapies over the last two decades,heart failure remains a leading cause of morbidity,mortality,and health care ...Despite widespread awareness and use of scientifi cally proven life-prolonging medical and device-based therapies over the last two decades,heart failure remains a leading cause of morbidity,mortality,and health care expenditure in the United States.Mechanical circulatory support with a continuous-fl ow left ventricular assist device(CF-LVAD),either as a bridge to heart transplantation or as destination therapy,is an increasingly used treatment modality for patients with advanced heart failure syndromes that worsen despite their receiving standard therapies.CF-LVAD support creates unique hemodynamic alterations that must be understood to provide appropriate care for these patients before and after implantation.Echocardiography is essential in the evaluation of patients who are being considered for or are mechanically supported by CF-LVADs.Here we provide a focused clinical review on the use of echocardiography in two main aspects of the evaluation of these patients:(a)optimal patient selection for CF-LVAD support and(b)followup assessment of optimal pump function.展开更多
Computerized decision support(CDS) is the most advanced form of clinical decision support available and has evolved with innovative technologies to provide meaningful assistance to medical professionals. Critical care...Computerized decision support(CDS) is the most advanced form of clinical decision support available and has evolved with innovative technologies to provide meaningful assistance to medical professionals. Critical care clinicians are in unique environments where vast amounts of data are collected on individual patients, and where expedient and accurate decisions are paramount to the delivery of quality healthcare. Many CDS tools are in use today among adult and pediatric intensive care units as diagnostic aides, safety alerts, computerized protocols, and automated recommendations for management. Some CDS use have significantly decreased adverse events and improved costs when carefully implemented and properly operated. CDS tools integrated into electronic health records are also valuable to researchers providing rapid identification of eligible patients, streamlining data-gathering and analysis, and providing cohorts for study of rare and chronic diseases through data-warehousing. Although the need for human judgment in the daily care of critically ill patients has limited the study and realization ofmeaningful improvements in overall patient outcomes, CDS tools continue to evolve and integrate into the daily workflow of clinicians, and will likely provide advancements over time. Through novel technologies, CDS tools have vast potential for progression and will significantly impact the field of critical care and clinical research in the future.展开更多
文摘Despite widespread awareness and use of scientifi cally proven life-prolonging medical and device-based therapies over the last two decades,heart failure remains a leading cause of morbidity,mortality,and health care expenditure in the United States.Mechanical circulatory support with a continuous-fl ow left ventricular assist device(CF-LVAD),either as a bridge to heart transplantation or as destination therapy,is an increasingly used treatment modality for patients with advanced heart failure syndromes that worsen despite their receiving standard therapies.CF-LVAD support creates unique hemodynamic alterations that must be understood to provide appropriate care for these patients before and after implantation.Echocardiography is essential in the evaluation of patients who are being considered for or are mechanically supported by CF-LVADs.Here we provide a focused clinical review on the use of echocardiography in two main aspects of the evaluation of these patients:(a)optimal patient selection for CF-LVAD support and(b)followup assessment of optimal pump function.
文摘Computerized decision support(CDS) is the most advanced form of clinical decision support available and has evolved with innovative technologies to provide meaningful assistance to medical professionals. Critical care clinicians are in unique environments where vast amounts of data are collected on individual patients, and where expedient and accurate decisions are paramount to the delivery of quality healthcare. Many CDS tools are in use today among adult and pediatric intensive care units as diagnostic aides, safety alerts, computerized protocols, and automated recommendations for management. Some CDS use have significantly decreased adverse events and improved costs when carefully implemented and properly operated. CDS tools integrated into electronic health records are also valuable to researchers providing rapid identification of eligible patients, streamlining data-gathering and analysis, and providing cohorts for study of rare and chronic diseases through data-warehousing. Although the need for human judgment in the daily care of critically ill patients has limited the study and realization ofmeaningful improvements in overall patient outcomes, CDS tools continue to evolve and integrate into the daily workflow of clinicians, and will likely provide advancements over time. Through novel technologies, CDS tools have vast potential for progression and will significantly impact the field of critical care and clinical research in the future.
