Web site designed and maintained by Chris Cairns  © SICS EBM Group 2004                                  

SICS EBMG Annual Report  

2006/07

2007 brought several landmarks for the SICS Evidence-Based Medicine Group (EBMG). The group held its’ fifth annual meeting and the website claimed its 2,000,000^th hit in this, its fifth year. With these 5 year landmarks in mind it’s probably time to recap the last five years and then look forward to the next 5 years! 

After a couple of years of preliminary work the group really went “live”  with the launch of the website in early 2003 (www.sicsebm.org.uk). The aim of the group from the outset was to provide a user friendly EBM resource for the busy clinician. This has been provided in two main formats which are published on the site: (a) Reviews – evidence-based reviews of ICM topics, and (b) CATs (Critically Appraised Topics) – reviews of single papers in an easy to read, universal format avoiding the need to troll through the many medical journals to keep up-to-date. Both formats have proved popular. The number of reviews and CATs on the site has increased rapidly. There are now over 180 CATs on the site which capture the majority of significant papers published over the last 5 years. All the publications are peer reviewed and go through a standard editorial and review process. If you are considering submitting a CAT the please do. We are happy to help budding submitters through the process. Those who have got over the first CAT hurdle have often gone on to produce many more. 

The groups annual meeting is now a regular event in June, shared with the SICS research group. The two groups have complemented each other well leading to varied programmes and stimulating discussions both during the meeting and the annual dinner. This year from the EBM camp there were review presented on METS and Outreach (Richard Price), APRV ventilation (Martyn Hawkins) and HFOV (Kevin Sim) as well as CAT presentations by Rachel Kearns, Katrina Bramley, Erin Innes and Pauline O’Neil.  

Over the last couple of years the EBMG had been working in collaboration with the ICS and its journal; JICS. We now oversee the CATs that are published in JICS. It has been encouraging to see that the proportion of CATs in JICS that have their origins north of the boarder has increased steadily over those two years. 

So all seems quite healthy at the moment. What of the future? We hope that the discussion forum, created last year, continues to stimulate and encourage debate. If you would like to join the forum then please send a request to icu_ebm-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk or visit http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/icu_ebm/. We look forward to the completion of several reviews which are currently in the pipeline and hope that the number of CATs submitted continues to increase in order to capture new papers as they appear in the journals.

Dr Chris Cairns

Chair, SICS EBMG (on behalf of the EBMG steering group)

January 2008 

SICS EBM publications : 2007

New Critically Appraised Papers (JICS):

·         Saline or Albumin for fluid resuscitation in patients with traumatic brain injury. The SAFE study Investigators. N Engl J Med 2007;357:874-84 by Chris Cairns.

·         Annane D, et al. Norepinephrine plus dobutamine versus epinephrine alone for the management of septic shock: a randomised trial. Lancet 2007; 370: 676 – 84 By Katrina Bramley and Chris Cairns.

 

New Critically Appraised Papers (Wed and JICS):

·         Angstwurm, M.W.A, et al. Selenium in Intensive Care (SIC): Results of a prospective randomized, placebo-controlled, multiple-centre study in patients with severe systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis and septic shock. Crit Care Med (2007) 35: 118 – 126 by Stephan Dalchow

·         A Randomised Trial of Diagnostic Techniques for Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia. The Canadian Critical Care Trials Group; NEJM 2006, 355: 2619 – 2630 by Srikanth Chukkambotla and Imelda Galvin.

·         Chan EY, Ruest A, O’Meade M, Cook DJ. Oral decontamination for prevention of pneumonia in mechanically ventilated adults: review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2007; 334:889-893 by Rachel Kearns

·         The SAFE study investigators.  Effect of baseline serum albumin concentration on outcome of resuscitation with albumin or saline in patients in intensive care units: analysis of data from the saline versus albumin fluid evaluation (SAFE) study.  BMJ 2006; 333: 1044-49 by Erin Innes and Brian Cuthbertson.

·         NKJ Adhikari, KEA Burns, JO Friedrich, JT Granton, Cook DJ, MO Meade.  Effect of nitric oxide on oxygenation and mortality in acute lung injury: systematic review and meta-analysis BMJ, doi: 10.1136/bmj.39139.716794.55 by Katrina Bramley.

New Critically Appraised Papers (Web)

·         Parenteral vs. enteral nutrition in the critically ill patient: a meta-analysis of trials using the intention to treat principle.  Intensive Care Medicine 2005; 31: 12-23.  F. Simpson and G.S. Doig by Marcia McDougal

·         Gao F, Melody T et al. The impact of compliance with 6-hour and 24-hour sepsis bundles on hospital mortality in patients with severe sepsis: a prospective observational study. Critical Care 2005, 9:R764-R770 (DOI 10.1186/cc3909) by Rachel Kearns.