What’s in the Journals – February 2020

In this episode I talk about what’s been recently published in the medical literature to help you master intensive care from a humanity point of view.

In a departure from the usual interview episode, and as a trial, I searched the December 2019 issues of 8 well-respected journals and found a large number of articles focused on non-technical aspects of intensive care. Not the drugs, devices, procedures or interventions, but the person-based and human-focused topics I like to concentrate this podcast on.

As I’ve transitioned in my own career from being a researcher of interventions to a producer of a podcast focused on being the best all-round intensive care-givers we can be, I’ve realised there is a growing literature on non-technical topics, some of which I’m not well enough aware of on a day to day basis.

So in this episode I found numerous articles from December 2019 which I believe can help you and your colleagues humanise the intensive care you give at the bedside. Some are research studies, some are reviews, and others are stories, essays, poems, or simply writings.

I focus in some detail on 3 specific journal articles on the topics of (1) family engagement, (2) family support and (3) early palliative care consultation. I then refer you briefly to 10 other articles so you can read these in full if you are interested. There are links to all of these articles below.

Links to 3 Journal articles reviewed in detail

• Kleinpell R, Zimmerman J, Vermoch KL, et al. Promoting Family Engagement in the ICU: Experience From a National Collaborative of 63 ICUs. Crit Care Med. 2019;47(12):1692–1698
• Lee HW, Park Y, Jang EJ, Lee YJ. Intensive care unit length of stay is reduced by protocolized family support intervention: a systematic review and meta-analysis [published correction appears in Intensive Care Med. 2019 Oct 8;:]. Intensive Care Med. 2019;45(8):1072–1081.
• Ma J, Chi S, Buettner B, et al. Early Palliative Care Consultation in the Medical ICU: A Cluster Randomized Crossover Trial. Crit Care Med. 2019;47(12):1707–1715

Links to 10 Journal articles mentioned briefly

• Barreto BB, Luz M, Rios MNO, Lopes AA, Gusmao-Flores D. The impact of intensive care unit diaries on patients’ and relatives’ outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Crit Care. 2019; 23(1):411. Published 2019 Dec 16.
• Ramchand P. The gift. Lancet. 2020; 394(10216):2283–2284.
• Harrington JL. The Case for Waking. JAMA. 2019; 322(22):2251.
• Maskell G. True candour. BMJ. 2019; 367:l6754. Published 2019 Dec 3.
• Rimmer A. Bring me joy. BMJ. 2019; 367:l6745. Published 2019 Dec 16
• Klaber RE, Bailey S. Kindness: an underrated currency. BMJ. 2019; 367:l6099. Published 2019 Dec 16
• Morgan M. Matt Morgan: Cold food on hot desks. BMJ. 2019; 367:l6829. Published 2019 Dec 10. doi:10.1136/bmj.l6829   PubMed link
• Rimmer A. Suicide in anaesthetists: five minutes with . . . Samantha Shinde. BMJ. 2019;367:l6781. Published 2019 Dec 2.
• Auriemma CL, Van den Berghe G, Halpern SD. Less is more in critical care is supported by evidence-based medicine. Intensive Care Med. 2019;45(12):1806–1809.
• Auñón-Chancellor S. Earthling. Ann Intern Med. 2019; 171(12):937–938.

Further reading and listening

• Full podcast collection on LITFL and Libsyn
• The New Normal Project podcast
• More conversation on Twitter (@andrewdavies66) and Facebook