Nita Shrikant Kulkarni, MD
News
National Program Reduces Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections
August 8, 2016
Clinical question: Can a program of education, feedback, and proper training reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections in hospitalized patients? Bottom line: The Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program, or CUSP, is a national program in the United States that aims to reduce catheter-ass
News
Procalcitonin Guidance Safely Decreases Antibiotic Use in Critically Ill Patients
August 8, 2016
Clinical question: Can the use of procalcitonin levels to determine when to discontinue antibiotic therapy safely reduce the duration of antibiotic use in critically ill patients? Bottom line: For patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) who receive antibiotics for presumed or proven bacterial i
News
What Is the Best Management Strategy for Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation?
July 6, 2016
Clinical question: What is the best management strategy for postoperative atrial fibrillation? Bottom line: For new-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) following cardiac surgery, both rate control and rhythm control are reasonable strategies. There is no a clear advantage of one over the other.
News
Early Initiation of Renal Replacement Therapy Improves Mortality in Critically Ill Patients with Acute Kidney Injury
July 6, 2016
Clinical question: For critically ill patients with acute kidney injury, does early initiation of renal replacement therapy improve mortality? Bottom line: In this single-center study, early initiation of renal replacement therapy (RRT) in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) de
News
Long-Term Mortality Benefits With Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting for Ischemic Cardiomyopathy
June 3, 2016
Clinical question: Does coronary artery bypass grafting added to medical therapy decrease mortality in patients with coronary artery disease and systolic heart failure? Bottom line: Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) plus medical therapy decreases mortality as compared with medical therapy al
News
Stent Retriever Therapy Added to tPA Effective for Treating Acute Ischemic Stroke
June 3, 2016
Clinical question: Does the use of stent retrievers in conjunction with tissue plasminogen activator improve outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke? Bottom line: The use of stent retriever devices in addition to tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in patients with anterior circulation acu
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N-Acetylcysteine, Statins May Prevent Contrast-Induced Nephropathy, but Strength of Evidence is Low
May 4, 2016
Clinical question: What strategies are effective in reducing contrast-induced nephropathy? Bottom line: N-acetylcysteine plus intravenous fluids alone or in combination with a statin can prevent contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN).
News
Short-Term High-Flow Oxygen Therapy for Low-Risk Patients Decreases Reintubation Rates
May 4, 2016
Clinical question: Does the use of high-flow oxygen therapy for 24 hours following extubation reduce the risk of reintubation in low-risk patients? Bottom line: Using high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy for 24 hours following extubation of patients who are already at low risk of reintubation f
News
New Sepsis Definition, Bedside Screening to Identify Patients at High-Mortality Risk
April 6, 2016
Clinical question: What are the best criteria to identify sepsis and septic shock? Bottom line: An international task force of experts has updated the definitions of sepsis and septic shock and created a new bedside scoring tool to identify patients with suspected infection who may be at high ris
News
Research Reaffirms Management of Hospitalized Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia
April 6, 2016
Clinical question: What is the best antibiotic strategy to improve outcomes in patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia? Bottom line: For patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), start antibiotics early, use either fluoroquinolone monotherapy or beta-lactam/ma