Adapted from OVERVIEW PaO2/FiO2 ratio is the ratio of arterial oxygen partial pressure to fractional inspired oxygen aka the Carrico index and the PF ratio. To be honest, I feel we do not use this enough when at the end of the bed space.How many times have you heard the phrase, 'they have ARDS', but... Continue Reading →
Within the menu bar, we have added A NEW section containing all you will hopefully need to know for basic cardiac, chest and abdominal ultrasound. Well...enough to get you through what FICE want anyway! Enjoy....more to come so keep an eye on it!
So we all hang on this as a prognosticator, as well as a gauge of the state of our patients both on the unit and prior to coming up to us. But should we be focussing on Lactate as much as we think … Source: Lactate...is the crystal ball we all need?
2 brilliant videos added. 2 on lactate to accompany our article placed today. There will be many others to follow soon. Watch this space! Source: New Video Resources section added to the site!
Click on presentations on the right and it's free to download and do with what you will! Happy ppt.'ing!
A recent editorial discusses the thorny issue of fluid resuscitation. Notably, there is still no consensus about the major aspects of fluid resuscitation. It's the usual rigmarole we face....no clarity about when to start and stop fluids, how to guide them or even how much to give. The bulk of the research has been focused on comparing... Continue Reading →
One of the perennial issues in Critical Care is that of the ‘problem patient’ that doesn’t seem to want to wean off ventilatory support. I am sure you know the situation well. You treat a patient and support them through their critical illness to the point where they show all the signs that they are ready... Continue Reading →
Thanks so much to Adrian Wong (I think it was via him we got hold of this)..CCR16 Meeting Booklet FINAL
See this article Slideshare .ppt presentation on IAH Interesting! Worth a look and I for one had no idea it had to be done at end expiration! The diagrams below demonstrate the physio-pathological effects of raised IAP.
Here is a very useful FOAM resource.....a good one for the iPhone out of hours! Anticoagulant Reversal Agents
What do we know... The AKI-EPI study, found an incidence of AKI in 57 % of the 1800 included patients. Severity was associated with adverse patient and kidney outcome at hospital discharge [1]. Analysis of a large cohort (32,045) confirmed a high prevalence (74.5 %) and further illustrated that both AKI severity, duration and the criteria used... Continue Reading →
There are a lot of rumblings within critical care at the moment regarding the usage of high flow oxygen. We sometimes forget how efficacious it can be. The FLORALI trial looked at 4777 admissions within 20 french and Belgian ICU's. They had a well-defined study protocol with sealed randomisation....clearly not blinded! They wanted to ascertain whether 3 different... Continue Reading →
This is a single centre retrospective study, admittedly in a small patient cohort, but it offers food for thought in the controversial area of prognostication post out of hospital cardiac arrest. Link to paper Often, we are presented, due to whatever reason, with patients who may have suffered prolonged downtimes during out of hospital cardiac arrest.... Continue Reading →
This study is eloquent. This was an observational, matched-pair analysis study. 1884 patients who were receiving mechanical ventilation in ICUs of a tertiary university hospital over six consecutive years were grouped as either lightly or deeply sedated within the first 48 hours after ICU admission. Stats are tight, but bare in mind there are still... Continue Reading →
See this link to an article in the BJA regarding the use of the, 'loved by all', anti-emetic Dexamethasone. Everyone thinks that the use of hyperbaric O2 helps would healing....the footballer in the hyperbaric chamber phenomenon!! Maybe not.....also, steroid usage is controversial, particularly where wound healing is concerned. Our anti-emetic doses may not be an... Continue Reading →
