Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:26+01:001 March, 2018|
When she told me about her ICU stay, I was surprised with her first phrase: "That ICU, you know, was scary". Fear? I know that ICU and it´s not scary, it´s new and is quite well. She tells me that she was not treated badly at any time, but that ICU was very much scary for her. Her eyes are [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:26+01:0027 February, 2018|
In a recent article by Kompanje, “Burnout, boreout and compassion fatigue on the ICU: it is not about work stress, but about lack of existential significance and professional performance”, three syndromes are described that can have the same result in health professionals: loss of the sense of work, demotivation for daily work, and apathy and lack of compassion for patients [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:27+01:0022 February, 2018|
Although RESPECT and DIGNITY are intuitive concepts, little formal work has addressed their systematic application in ICU. So, Samuel Brown an a multidisciplinary group of relevant experts have done a review of the literature and collaborative discussions focused on the practice of Respect in ICU. The article has been recently published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care. Findings include: [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:27+01:0020 February, 2018|
When a patient is admitted in the ICU, family members want to stay with this relative and know how he/she is. The information about the patient evolution is an encounter between family and staff. This encounter is essential for families, and we should humanize the enviroment where it happens, because: Patient has the right about confidentiality of the state of [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:28+01:0013 February, 2018|
Patient experience, pacient centered care, the evaluation of user´s satisfaction... are essential variables for the evaluation of the quality of care, but are they two sides of the same coin?. Does achieving patient satisfaction (face) require the sacrifice of the professional (cross)? Nowadays, there is a concept of the company's environment that is increasingly extending to more areas, including the [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:30+01:008 February, 2018|
HealthTap, a health technology company serving millions worldwide with its Health Operating System (HOPES™) powered by a network of 108,000 doctors and Artificial Intelligence, released a report that revealed that compassion is more important than cost to patients (and doctors) when ranking doctors. In a climate where cost and access are often cited as key priorities among healthcare consumers and providers, [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:31+01:007 February, 2018|
Reciently, the section What´s new in Intensive Care of Intensive Care Medicine journal has published Adjuvant therapies in critical care: music therapy. The authors reflect on the increasing introduction of music in the ICU, with the aim of reducing patient anxiety and pain. They explain the differences between patient-directed music interventions and music therapy, with different objectives and basically lies [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:31+01:006 February, 2018|
The medical Pause is a practice implemented after the death of a patient. This practice offers closure to both the medical team and the patient. It is a means of transitioning and demarcating the brevity and importance of this moment. Through silence this shared event is able to be honored and marked by a multicultural medical staff. Silence allows individuals [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:31+01:001 February, 2018|
The article Psychiatric symptoms after acute respiratory distress syndrome: a 5-year longitudinal study, has been recently published in Intensive Care Medicine by the group of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The authors had the purpose of characterizing the psychiatric symptoms presented by patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) over five-year follow-up, using the Anxiety and Depression scale Hospital scales (HADS) and [...]
Gabriel Heras2019-08-02T18:56:32+01:0031 January, 2018|
Daylight does not only have obvious time limits, also it does not reach confined spaces in hospitals. Our group is testing virtual ilumination solutions in dark boxes where natural light cannot be possible, to provide artificially illumination and views comparable to real windows and skylights. In the ICU of Clínica INDISA Universidad Andrés Bello in Santiago de Chile, with 80 [...]
