Critical Illness Brain Dysfunction and Survivorship (CIBS) Center

Christopher Hughes, MD, left, Pratik Pandharipande, MD, MSCI, and colleagues are studying two drugs recommended for patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the ICU.
February 2, 2021

Study finds recommended ICU sedatives equally safe, effective

Sedative medications used in intensive care are associated with increased delirium, which is in turn connected with higher medical costs and greater risk of death and ICU-related dementia.

By Paul Govern
January 8, 2021

Large study finds higher burden of acute brain dysfunction for COVID-19 ICU patients

COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care in the early months of the pandemic were subject to a significantly higher burden of delirium and coma than is typically found in patients with acute respiratory failure. Choice of sedative medications and curbs on family visitation played a role in increasing acute brain dysfunction for these patients.

By Paul Govern
April 8, 2020

Self-care crucial for providers during pandemic

High levels of stress and anxiety can be debilitating, especially for health care providers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are ways they can protect themselves and their ability to provide the best and most compassionate care.

By Bill Snyder
Interventions such as daily spontaneous waking trials can help patients avoid injuries associated with intensive care.
January 8, 2020

New software aims to prevent intensive care unit delirium

Intensive care unit delirium, a fertile area of clinical research and patient care innovation associated with VUMC, is beginning to reshape how commercial electronic health record systems are engineered with regard to intensive care.

By Paul Govern
October 22, 2018

Antipsychotics ineffective for treating ICU delirium: study

Critically ill patients are not benefiting from antipsychotic medications that have been used to treat delirium in intensive care units (ICUs) for more than four decades, according to a study released today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

By Craig Boerner
October 4, 2018

New center formed to treat, study ICU delirium, dementia

Millions of patients in intensive care units each year develop delirium during their hospitalization and often leave the hospital with cognitive deficits similar to those suffering from traumatic brain injury or mild Alzheimer’s disease.

By Nancy Humphrey
March 27, 2018

Alzheimer’s proteins in ICU survivors

The cognitive impairment that affects patients who survive a stay in the ICU does not appear to have a similar mechanism to Alzheimer’s disease, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
By Meredith Jackson
February 9, 2017

Program aims to help patients thrive following ICU stay

The phrase “working twice as hard for half as much” is one that sadly rings true for many patients who have had significant stays in an intensive care unit (ICU). Surviving a lengthy critical care experience can result in depression, weakness, fatigue and other cognitive and physical deficiencies.
By Nancy Humphrey
October 29, 2015

ICU Recovery Center helps ease burden of critical illness

Quinton Smith doesn’t remember much of what happened one Sunday evening last March. He was disoriented, unable to stand and could not even recognize his girlfriend’s face after she returned home from work.
By VUMC News and Communications
April 17, 2014

Physical signs of depression common among ICU survivors

Depression affects more than one out of three survivors of critical illness, according to a Vanderbilt study released in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, and the majority of patients experience their symptoms physically rather than mentally.
By Craig Boerner