Overview Critical care ultrasound (CCU) is a noninvasive tool used for diagnostic evaluation and for guiding procedures in critical care patients. Ultrasound improves success and lowers complication rates when used to guide procedures such as vascular access and fluid drainage.…
Overview Echocardiography provides intensivists with a means of rapidly assessing the anatomy and function of the heart in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with hemodynamic failure, thus guiding management. Since echocardiography is a key skill for frontline intensivists, developing effective…
Overview Despite well-established evidence on the use of ultrasound for placement of any vascular access, a formal training program on how to perform ultrasound-guided vascular access (UGVA) and how to certify adequate competence has not been clearly defined. , According…
Overview Significant advancements have been made in the use of ultrasound technology since its inception in the early 1950s. These advances have revolutionized the practice of critical care medicine. Currently, clinicians in the intensive care unit (ICU) have at their…
Overview Ultrasonography has undergone a transformation in the past 2 decades that is fundamentally changing the way that medicine is taught and practiced. Technologic advances have taken ultrasound to the bedside or point of care in the form of laptop…
Overview The approaches to examination of patients by clinical providers has evolved with the growth of medical knowledge and expectations of quality care. Though still primarily relying on their senses, physicians have been adding basic equipment (e.g., scale, stethoscope) and…
Overview This chapter presents research evidence on the effective utilization of picture archiving communication systems (PACSs) and computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems in the intensive care unit (ICU). PACSs provide a centralized communication repository for all imaging data that…
Overview In 2004, in the first historical translational study of focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) from humans to small animals, 101 dogs with severe blunt trauma after being hit by cars were evaluated. The authors reported that intraabdominal…
Overview Recent innovations in local tissue rearrangement and free tissue transfer have altered surgical approaches from simple wound care or amputation to optimal functional and aesthetic repair. Survival of transferred tissue remains a concern in trauma patients. , Apart from…
Overview Peripheral regional anesthesia and neuraxial anesthesia are well established in postoperative pain management following major orthopedic, thoracic, and abdominal procedures. Benefits include pain control superior to that achieved with systemic opioids, improved lung function after thoracic and abdominal procedures,…