The blood counts never came back to normal, even though they were supposed to. The toxic effects of the chemotherapy never went away, even though they were supposed to. The hospital stay was not short, even though it was supposed to be. Everything that could go wrong went so terribly wrong.

Then, on Saturday morning, something changed. Her breathing got worse. She was less responsive. She was immediately transferred to the ICU to get closer monitoring. All throughout the day and night, her organ systems began to fail – one by one. By the end of the night, she was on a ventilator and had to be transferred to another hospital to get dialysis.

Everything continued to deteriorate, and by the following morning, my daughter was dead. She succumbed to gram negative septic shock that caused multiorgan failure. All I could do was watch in horror and grieve over the death of my firstborn, a death I could do nothing to prevent.

This is the ruthless monster that is sepsis. This is the horror that I witnessed firsthand as a father and witness countless times as a physician in the ICU caring for sepsis patients.

Sepsis is defined as organ failure as a result of an abnormal response of the body to an infection. It can be devastating. In a matter of hours, it can take someone from awake, alert, and talking to fighting for his or her very life in shock on a ventilator and dialysis machine. It is the number one diagnosis we see in the ICU, and it has exacted a terrible toll on so many people and their family and loved ones.

We try to always be vigilant against this disease, because it can sneak up on our patients with very little warning. Decades of research have been conducted to try and fight this disease, and there have been many drugs and therapies that have been tried and tried without success. I “grew up” in the era of those drugs and therapies, and I have seen one after the other fail to prevent death and destruction from this disease.

At the same time, it is not hopeless: I have been blessed to help heal countless patients from certain death from sepsis, and seeing them survive this terrible illness brings a feeling of joy that is beyond words to describe. Sepsis can be treated successfully, as long as one is always thinking about it, is aggressive with resuscitation early on, and administers appropriate antibiotic therapy as soon as it is suspected.

September is Sepsis Awareness Month. It is of the utmost importance that we, as ICU clinicians, are ever vigilant against this ruthless monster that ravaged my poor daughter and sent her back to our Precious Beloved. And we should also take some time to remember and pray for all those who have lost their battles with sepsis, as well as their families and loved ones having to move on with the grief of horrible loss. May our Lord ever comfort them in this life and the next. Amen.

The post The Ruthless Monster That Is Sepsis appeared first on Medika Life.

NEWS PROVIDED BY Cogitativo, Inc. 

Jan 13, 2022, 12:24 ET

Cogitativo Will Deploy their Proven Machine Learning Solution to Help the VHA Identify and Support Vulnerable Veterans and Families Whose Costly Medical Needs Have Increased Due to Care Disruptions Caused by the Pandemic

BERKELEY, Calif., Jan. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Cogitativo today announced that it is deploying its AI-enabled solution called Visión. This solution will help the VHA identify Veterans who are at greatest risk of acute clinical events. The deployment is in support of the VHA’s latest initiative called Arches. Visión will also provide VHA clinicians with the insights they need to direct resources and manage conditions contributing to an individual’s risk. 

Cogitativo Will Deploy their Proven Machine Learning Solution to Help the VHA Identify and Support Vulnerable VeteransTweet this

Visión is built on proven machine learning technologies that are helping large healthcare systems and agencies across America. By using this solution, the VHA will be able to provide better care and improve access to much-needed preventative clinical and social services.

“As the son of an Army Ranger and someone who has worked within the Veterans community for decades, I know that confronting our most overwhelming and costly healthcare challenges must be a top priority,” said Gary Velasquez, CEO and Co-Founder of Cogitativo. “We are proud to work with the VHA on an innovative, data-driven solution that will benefit millions of Veterans and their providers while optimizing existing resources.” 

The effort comes as physicians and public health experts sound the alarm over the long-term consequences of missed screenings and treatment during the last 22 months. It will initially focus on VHA beneficiaries who have chronic conditions – specifically, those with cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease or diabetes. In addition, Cogitativo is exploring future disease focus areas for Visión, such as mental health disorders and autoimmune diseases.

Visión analyzes patient records through the lens of peer-reviewed literature on disease progression, social determinants of health and other relevant data sources. Cogitativo will use Visión to identify and rank the individuals in those cohorts who are most likely to require greater medical attention in the months and years ahead. This information will enable the VHA to proactively conduct outreach to the most at-risk VA beneficiaries and offer clear pathways to address their personal deferred care challenges.           

“As a nephrologist who spent years promoting access to preventative care for patients with chronic conditions, I commend the VHA for taking action on behalf of its beneficiaries and investing in innovative approaches that health systems across the country can learn from,” said Dr. Meredith Mathews, Cogitativo Board Member and former Chief Medical Officer of Blue Shield of California. “Visión’s analytic capabilities not only predict future outcomes for patients but can also provide insight into future utilization – which makes it a foundational data and analytics investment.”

About Cogitativo Inc.
Cogitativo is a Berkeley-based data science company founded in 2015 with a mission to create and implement innovative, scalable solutions to the most complex challenges facing the healthcare system. Leveraging machine learning, proprietary data sets and expertise from leaders with decades of experience working with public health agencies, Cogitativo can deliver actionable insights and save lives. To date, Cogitativo has successfully applied data science solutions to more than 200 unique operational challenges to significantly improve the efficiency of our healthcare systems and protect vulnerable patients and communities. Visit www.cogitativo.com for more information. 

Company Contact:  
Amy Domangue
Amy.Domangue@cogitativo.com 
Phone: (225) 337–6402 

SOURCE Cogitativo, Inc.

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These were the words of my partner in the ICU, signing out a woman who was suffering from ongoing bleeding from her gastrointestinal tract. She came into the hospital for a routine endoscopy. Suddenly, she started bleeding. She not only “kept me busy,” but I did not leave her bedside for my entire shift – more than 7 hours.

Her bleeding was relentless. Despite everything I was doing for her, she kept bleeding. We gave blood transfusion after blood transfusion. She kept bleeding. I sent her to the Radiology suite to get an angiogram and have metal coils placed inside the blood vessels. I was there in the suite, and I watched the blood vessels get blocked. She kept bleeding.

I had the Gastroenterology specialist come back and look into her stomach again with a camera, to see if he can do anything to stop it. She kept bleeding. Finally, after virtually emptying the blood bank and trying everything else, I called the General Surgeon to come and take her to the operating room.

The only way he could stop the bleeding was to take out her entire stomach.

She was in terrible shock, and she required multiple medications to support her blood pressure. I had to keep her deeply sedated on a breathing machine. And yet, she survived. She was then transferred to the University for more advanced surgery to connect her intestines to her esophagus.

She survived, and I pray she will have a full recovery from this horrific illness.

With the relentless waves of COVID-19, it is so very easy to give up hope and say, “Why even bother?” It is so very easy to “just swim down” and succumb to hopelessness and despair. And yet, cases such as these remind me that, there is still joy in the ICU. It is not all death and despair. By the grace of God, I am still able to help someone survive critical illness and live another day to be with family and others whom they love.

With COVID clouding over all that we do in the ICU, I have to remind myself that I can still do good and help people. It is not all doom and gloom. Yes, I had a long shift taking care of this patient, and it was exhausting – both physically and mentally. At the same time, it is so thrilling to know that my patient – who I thought was going to bleed to death – survived and will hopefully do well after this terrible affliction. This case has helped me combat and resist the hopelessness that COVID can easily instill.

Even in the midst of another COVID winter, there is still joy in the ICU. I can still help people heal and not helplessly watch them die. I will always try to remember this case and not despair. There is still joy in the ICU.

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