intensive care unit (ICU)

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
September 13, 2016

Risk factors for delirium

High levels of blood markers for vascular endothelial dysfunction were associated with longer periods of confusion in ICU patients, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

By Leigh MacMillan
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
October 20, 2015

A bundle, a dashboard and lasting pneumonia reduction

A “bundle” of electronically implemented care guidelines reduced intensive care unit patient complications related to mechanical ventilation.

By Paul Govern
iStock
October 15, 2015

Risk of death in the ICU

The irregular heart rhythm atrial fibrillation increases the risk of death in patients in the intensive care unit.

By Bill Snyder
October 1, 2015

Many hands help make wedding dream come true

Their wedding date was just weeks away when Caleb Hanby and his fiancée Bethany Davidson rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center last Thursday.

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
March 17, 2014

Delirium increases long-term disability

Patients who suffer a longer duration of delirium in the intensive care unit are more likely to experience long-term disability after discharge.
By Leigh MacMillan
April 15, 2013

A role for blood vessels in delirium?

Dysfunction of the endothelial cells that line blood vessels may contribute to delirium and coma in critically ill patients – and could be a target for therapy.
By Leigh MacMillan
November 15, 2012

Grant to bolster care of ventilated ICU patients

Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have received a $2.8 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to continue studying ways to improve sedation management for intensive care unit patients who are on mechanical ventilators.
By Jill Clendening
April 17, 2012

Pathways to delirium in the ICU

Study suggests that the “kynurenine” biochemical pathway could be a target for reducing delirium and coma in critically ill patients.
By Leigh MacMillan
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