https://medicalxpress.com/critical-care-medicine-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Critical care medicine Thyroid hormones play a fundamental role in cardiovascular function. They influence how the heart responds to adrenaline, how the heart uses energy and how constricted or relaxed blood vessels are. However, their effect on the strength of cardiac contraction is less understood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-thyroid-hormone-contribute-heart-dysfunction.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:10:01 EDT news695493601 Home is often where recovery begins after being hospitalized for a serious illness. But for some people, it may also be where gaps in care arise. In a recent study, Yale School of Medicine's Snigdha Jain, MD, MHS, and colleagues found that social factors, such as income and education, can be associated with whether an older adult receives home-based rehabilitation services after an intensive care unit (ICU) stay. The findings are published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-icu-older-adults-home-based.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:40:05 EDT news695483154 A new study exposes challenges in reversing opioid overdoses with naloxone when potent synthetic drugs like fentanyl and sufentanil are involved, according to a study published in the May 2026 issue of Anesthesiology. The findings raise important alarms for health care professionals and the public as the opioid crisis continues. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-limitations-naloxone-reversing-overdoses-powerful.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:40:01 EDT news695305133 A QUT-led pilot study has shown the use of a relatively simple and cost-effective method of monitoring the presence of infectious disease-causing bacteria in intensive care units and their sites of transmission. The collaborative project between QUT, University of Southern Queensland, University of Queensland and St Vincent's Private Hospital in Toowoomba has demonstrated the power of academia and hospitals working together to address the critical problem of hospital-acquired infections. The paper is published in the journal Microbial Genomics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-effective-combat-icu-drug-resistant.html Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:20:07 EDT news694865822 A new study from the University of Minnesota Medical School has demonstrated that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) can rapidly reverse systemic inflammation and improve survival in patients with fulminant Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infection—a life-threatening condition characterized by a sepsis-like state. The findings are published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-treatment-protocol-deadliest-cases-difficile.html Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:20:03 EDT news694711441 Language barriers may be particularly harmful in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), where families encounter challenging, often life-changing medical decisions. In many hospitals, a member of the health care team, and not the family, decides when to use interpretation services. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-pediatric-icu-communication-families-access.html Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:10:02 EDT news694337587 Assessing health literacy levels soon after hospital admission and adjusting discharge instructions accordingly helped reduce readmission rates for pediatric patients after heart surgery and improve caregiver satisfaction scores at a California children's hospital, according to a study published in Critical Care Nurse. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-health-literacy-discharge-readmission.html Wed, 01 Apr 2026 21:00:03 EDT news694258383 For decades, Chicago's South Side neighborhoods have experienced high rates of firearm violence, making speedy access to expert trauma care a matter of life and death. A recent study in JAMA Surgery helps quantify the impact of critical care: the opening of the University of Chicago Medicine's Level 1 trauma center in 2018 was associated with a nearly 4% reduction in firearm mortality, thanks to faster and closer emergency treatment. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-trauma-center-gunshot-minutes-deaths.html Sun, 29 Mar 2026 10:00:22 EDT news693760786 Older adults are much more likely to become seriously ill from flu or COVID because aging lung cells can drive excessive immune responses, according to a new study led by researchers at UC San Francisco. The findings enhance the understanding of the inflammation that accompanies aging, explaining how an otherwise minor cough can sometimes send an elderly person to the hospital. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-covid-flu-older-lungs-harder.html Fri, 27 Mar 2026 11:00:08 EDT news693827949 An international team of experts recently came together to update sepsis care guidelines for adults for the first time since 2021. The updates have profound implications for the management of sepsis, which is responsible for approximately 11 million deaths per year worldwide. Co-led by U-M's Hallie Prescott, M.D. and Massimo Antonelli, M.D. of Catholic University in Rome, Italy, the 69-person panel reviewed research, concentrating on areas of care that may have new evidence supporting a change in practice. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-surviving-sepsis-guidelines-harness-life.html Thu, 26 Mar 2026 19:30:01 EDT news693734977 When someone gets a bad infection, the body's immune system rushes in to fight the germs. But sometimes this defense system becomes too strong and starts hurting the person's own tissues and organs. This condition, known as sepsis, is still one of the leading causes of death in hospitals worldwide. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-pp4-protein-body-overreacting-severe.html Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:40:01 EDT news693586742 A major UK-led clinical trial has found that a treatment commonly used to help premature babies breathe offers no benefit for infants on life support with severe bronchiolitis—a seasonal viral illness that hospitalizes thousands of babies each year. The Bronchiolitis Endotracheal Surfactant Study (BESS) trial is the largest-ever randomized study of surfactant for bronchiolitis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-uk-added-benefit-surfactant-treatment.html Mon, 23 Mar 2026 11:30:01 EDT news693483962 Hospital stays can be long and arduous; they can also cause serious complications. When a person lies in one position too long and begins to sweat, painful sores called pressure injuries (PIs) can form on the body, leading to infection or even death. A patient can develop a PI in a few days—or even a few hours. And once present, a PI is hard to treat. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-sensor-pressure-injuries.html Sun, 22 Mar 2026 15:00:03 EDT news692877104 Nearly one in five pediatric hospital deaths in the United States involve sepsis, according to a new national study published in JAMA. The study also found that sepsis occurs in about one in every 75 pediatric hospitalizations and that more than one in 10 children with sepsis die during hospitalization. Based on these findings, the authors estimate that more than 18,000 hospitalized children in the United States have sepsis each year, including more than 1,800 who do not survive to discharge. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-sepsis-linked-pediatric-hospital-deaths.html Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:30:04 EDT news693150121 Sepsis moves fast. A patient can arrive at hospital with what appears to be a routine infection and, within hours, develop organ failure. Survival often depends on how quickly treatment begins. Across Europe, doctors are seeing increasingly complex cases. Populations are aging and more people are living with chronic illness. At the same time, antimicrobial resistance, when bacteria no longer respond to antibiotics, is making infections harder to treat. Together, these pressures are reshaping the landscape of sepsis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-sepsis-harder-europe.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 19:50:01 EDT news692454709 A new international study published in eClinicalMedicine has mapped global blood transfusion practices for life-threatening abdominal injuries, highlighting significant variation in care worldwide and opportunities for health systems to learn from one another. The work represents the first multicenter international study to report on blood transfusion strategies for patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery following trauma (trauma laparotomy). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-international-trauma-analysis-big-transfusion.html Wed, 04 Mar 2026 18:30:03 EST news691835882 When a trauma patient enters the emergency department, their potential for survival often depends on what happens within the first minutes after their arrival. After studying trauma resuscitation teams at UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, the largest major trauma center in Pennsylvania, it's clear that trauma teams aren't organized ahead of time—they're formed on the fly. Some team members may have worked together many times before, while others may be meeting for the first time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-trauma-patients-recover-faster-medical.html Wed, 04 Mar 2026 12:30:01 EST news691849621 A naturally occurring protein in the human body could protect people from one of the world's biggest killers—sepsis. The protein's ability to reduce inflammation in a preclinical study raises hopes that it could be the first new, natural anti-inflammatory discovered in 70 years. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-natural-anti-inflammatory-protein-sepsis.html Tue, 03 Mar 2026 07:20:08 EST news691743722 Moral injury remains prevalent among critical care nurses, with newer nurses at the highest risk of developing symptoms, according to new research published in the American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC). Moral resilience and a healthy work environment were found to serve as potential buffers against moral injury, providing a combination of personal and environmental protections. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-environment-moral-resilience-nurses-injury.html Mon, 02 Mar 2026 07:30:01 EST news691654982 A major new study, led by Queen Mary University of London has been published in The Lancet Public Health. It found that out of the five million surgical procedures performed each year by the NHS, around 300,000 are carried out on individuals considered high-risk, and within 90 days of surgery, these high-risk patients account for four out of five deaths, over half of all hospital bed days and nearly one-third of emergency readmissions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-high-patients-account-surgery-deaths.html Sun, 01 Mar 2026 08:00:05 EST news691241659 The skin forms a natural barrier that prevents bacteria entering the body. Severe burns stop this protective function from working properly, and germs can enter the blood more easily through the wounds. If the airways have suffered thermal or chemical injury through the inhalation of hot and toxic substances, they are also a gateway for infection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-women-severe-injuries-men-blood.html Wed, 25 Feb 2026 11:50:06 EST news691242008 An analysis of approximately 1,604 studies from over three decades proves that delirium is a clinically highly relevant but scientifically often neglected complication in cardiology, and prevention can reduce the incidence of delirium by up to 40%. The review, led by the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), has now been published in the European Heart Journal and provides systematic prevention strategies and innovative treatment recommendations. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-acute-cardiovascular-procedures.html Fri, 20 Feb 2026 13:20:54 EST news690816001 In recent years, medical guidelines and national policies have pushed hospitals to offer more palliative care to patients who are seriously ill. This has led to a major rise in palliative care use, especially among people treated in ICUs. Although past research suggested that palliative care can help patients transition to hospice, the actual trends in hospice use after critical illness have not been described. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-hospice-icu-admission.html Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:40:01 EST news690729218 Traumatic injury is the third leading cause of death in the state of Texas, surpassing strokes, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A massive number of these deaths are the result of uncontrolled bleeding. "Severe blood loss can rapidly lead to hemorrhagic shock," said Dr. Akhilesh Gaharwar, a biomedical engineering professor at Texas A&M University. "Many patients die within one to two hours of injury. This critical period is often referred to as the 'golden hour.'" https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-fatal-blood-loss-clay.html Wed, 18 Feb 2026 14:53:40 EST news690648782 Trauma patients urgently requiring a breathing tube are more likely to survive if the tube is inserted before arriving at hospital compared to insertion afterwards, suggests a modeling study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the Severn Major Trauma Network. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-tube-insertion-hospital-admission-major.html Wed, 11 Feb 2026 18:30:07 EST news690023972 Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz have developed a way to predict how trauma patients will recover, days before complications come to fruition, by analyzing the molecules in their blood. In their study published in Science Translational Medicine, the team has shown that "omics" markers (biological signals found in blood) can reveal why patients with similar injuries often recover differently, opening the door to more precise, personalized trauma care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-blood-biomarkers-trauma-patient-recovery.html Wed, 11 Feb 2026 14:48:35 EST news690043681 Health care workers have an intense workload and often experience mental distress during resuscitation and other critical care procedures. Although researchers have studied whether robots can support human teams in other high-stakes, high-risk settings such as disaster response and military operations, the role of robots in emergency medicine has not been explored. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-robotic-medical-cart-eases-workload.html Tue, 10 Feb 2026 19:40:01 EST news689960356 Real-time and early detection of minute changes in the functioning of the cardiovascular system is crucial for managing critically ill patients, such as newborns and older adults, and can significantly affect their outcomes. Heart rate variability (HRV) is the minute, yet normal, fluctuations between consecutive heartbeats, usually measured through the electrocardiogram (ECG). HRV is a well-established, quantitative, and noninvasive measure for assessing autonomic nervous system activity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-framework-real-bedside-heart-variability.html Tue, 10 Feb 2026 18:30:03 EST news689945717 Rounds focused on critically ill pediatric patients at the greatest risk for developing health care–associated conditions (HACs) reduced the rate of specific HACs by nearly 50% at a Colorado hospital, according to a study published in Critical Care Nurse. After implementing a high-risk rounding process, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, was able to decrease the mean rate of project-specific HACs in its pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) from 5.41 to 2.89 events per 1,000 patient days. The 48-bed PICU averages 3,500 admissions annually from across the seven states served by the hospital. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-high-icu-rounds-pediatric-hospital.html Sun, 08 Feb 2026 13:00:05 EST news689259104 Severe bleeding is one of the most common and preventable causes of death after traumatic injury, yet currently available tools have poor ability to determine which patients urgently need blood transfusions. A new multinational study, just published in Lancet Digital Health, suggests artificial intelligence (AI) may help close that gap. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-ai-tool-trauma-patients-blood.html Thu, 05 Feb 2026 10:08:57 EST news689508481