Background Critical Illness Critical illness is any form of illness that represents an immediate threat to life.The major purpose of Intensive Care Units (ICUs) is to treat patients with potentially reversible forms of critical illness. Until recently, the major focus in ICU research has been on survival, usually short-term survival, and...
READ MOREIntroduction Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV), the provision of ventilator assistance using techniques that do not bypass the upper airway, is widely used in the management of selected patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF). The main theoretical advantage of NIV is avoiding the side effects and complications related to endotracheal intubation...
READ MOREIntroduction The efficacy of a drug is mainly dependent on its ability to achieve an effective concentration in the target tissue. However the risk of toxicity limits the dose that can be administered. Critically ill patients often have increased cardiac output, capillary leak, modification of proteins serum levels and binding...
READ MOREStill in the throes of economic turmoil and famous for political disputes, there are many reasons why one might wonder how Ireland's Intensive care Medicine (ICM) system could be accurately summarised while the country remains in such a state of flux. The division of this island into Northern Ireland and the Republic has never prevented close cooperation...
READ MOREPatients recovering from serious illness have been shown to be at risk for developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Studies show that around 1 in 10 patients with an ICU stay of 48 hours or more develop PTSD (Jones et al. 2007). Since the 1980s, it has been known that patients don’t tend to remember much from their time in ICU and...
READ MOREEarly Enteral Nutrition in Trauma Patients The first step in any practice change initiative involves an 'appraisal' of the research evidence to understand its inherent potential to change practice. As an example, a novel meta-analysis of early enteral nutrition in trauma is assessed. Introduction Up to 30% of all hospitalised...
READ MOREA Tool for Estimating the Needs of Healthcare Resorces at Sporting and Other Public Events Co-authors Amir Khorram-Manesh, MD, PhD Annika H.E. Hedelin, RN Per Örtenwall, MD, PhD Sporting events have the potential to turn into major incidents. Thus, as part of the planning for such events, there should be an estimation of the needs for medical...
READ MOREFor this "After ICU" edition of ICU Management, Managing Editor Sherry Scharff sat down with Jean-Daniel Chiche to discuss a range of engaging topics including the allure of intensive care medicine as a specialty, the need to push away from the "hero" culture and the importance of being human. What Brought You to the Field of Intensive Care?...
READ MOREIntroduction Intensive care medicine is quite a recent medical discipline born around 1950. At the beginning, the medical world held an illusion that new highly sophisticated techniques would allow for the recovery of every single patient. A half century later, the discipline has grown up and there is a realisation that while many more lives...
READ MOREAuthors Chadwick P. Smith , MS, FACC Fellow Department of Surgical Education, Orlando Regional Medical Center Orlando, Florida, USA [email protected] Michael L. Cheatham, MD, FACS, FCCM Director Department of Surgical Education Orlando Regional Medical Center Orlando, Florida, USA...
READ MORE