We recently cared for a 57-year-old female admitted to the internal medicine ward
at our hospital with shortness of breath, worsening dysphagia and increasing peripheral
edema for 3 weeks. Past medical history was significant for polymyositis, treated
previously with corticosteroids and intravenous immunoglobulin. When her symptoms
worsened progressively, she was admitted to the intensive care unit of the internal
medicine department (ICU-IM). After 1 week, we performed endotracheal intubation and
2 weeks later tracheostomy. In the ICU-IM, our patient suffered several episodes of
ventilator-associated pneumonia and septic shock, leading to organ damage (renal,
gastrointestinal and endocrine). Recovery occurred gradually in the ICU-IM over 3
months, such that she regained the ability to breathe and feed on her own. As highly
qualified personnel in our small (6 bed) ICU-IM deliver expert healthcare to the most
critically ill patients, plans were made per standard hospital protocol to transfer
this improving patient from the ICU-IM to a general internal medicine ward and later
to an intensive rehabilitation center. During the patient׳s recovery period, we provided
the patient and family with projected dates and specific goals for transfer.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to The American Journal of the Medical SciencesAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 16, 2017
Accepted:
January 24,
2017
Received in revised form:
January 11,
2017
Received:
November 2,
2016
Footnotes
☆The author has no financial or other conflicts of interest to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by All rights reserved.
