Vanderbilt University Medical Center has established a first-of-its-kind Center for Learning Healthcare that will bring together clinicians, health system operations leaders and researchers to generate evidence in the course of health care delivery to continuously improve the quality, value and safety of health care offered to patients.

A Vanderbilt study looked at the oxygen saturation target that results in optimal outcomes — number of days alive and free of mechanical ventilation — in 2,500 critically ill adults receiving mechanical ventilation.

Black patients in the ICU were more likely to have low or high blood oxygen levels than white patients, even when a pulse oximeter indicated 92-96% oxygen saturation, Vanderbilt researchers found.

Rapidly administering IV fluids to critically ill adults undergoing emergency tracheal intubation does not significantly decrease chances of hypotension (low blood pressure) and cardiac arrest, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center-led study shows.

Starting on April 4, Vanderbilt providers initiated the “Randomized Trial of Sedative Choice for Intubation” (RSI) study to determine whether ketamine or etomidate is better for preventing low blood pressure, low oxygen levels, serious heart problems, or even death for severely ill patients undergoing intubation.

Two devices for placing a breathing tube during critical illness had similar success rates for intubation on the first attempt, according to a study published Dec. 8 in JAMA.

Five Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty members have received Young Physician-Scientist Awards from the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), an elite honor society of physician-scientists.