Before the procedure Indications Inability to achieve the clinical goal by peripheral intravenous catheterization Relatively fast flow rate is required Rapid, massive intravascular volume resuscitation 3.5-inch, 8.5F introducer catheter offers the fastest flow rate. However, a 2-inch, 16-gauge peripheral catheter…
Advances in ultrasound technology continue to enhance its diagnostic applications in daily medical practice. Constantly evolving, this tool has become invaluable for properly trained cardiologists, anesthesiologists, intensivists, surgeons, obstetricians, and emergency department physicians. Ultrasound can enable rapid, accurate, and noninvasive…
The critically ill patient, particularly the critically ill difficult airway patient, presents unique airway challenges in emergency situations outside the operating room. The risk of life-threatening complications, including anoxic brain injury, death, and long-term disability, are exaggerated in this patient…
Introduction As a specialty, critical care medicine has many unique challenges when it comes to teaching trainees. The intensive care unit (ICU) is an environment with high stakes and time-sensitive decision making for acutely ill patients with multiple competing demands…
Worldwide, there is a need for novel strategies to alleviate the lack of specialized medical care, including critical care medicine. Societal changes in demographics, epidemiology, and culture, in addition to significant technologic advances, have positioned telemedicine as a useful tool…
Natural and man-made disasters have always been a part of life and are occurring with increasing frequency. They create varied degrees of chaos owing to mismatch of resources and needs, and they place a huge burden on healthcare systems. Restoring…
Bedrest has historically been prescribed as an adjunct to the treatment of acute illness and to rehabilitation after surgery. Even as physicians and researchers began to realize the “evil sequelae of complete bed rest” in both medical and surgical patients,…
Despite a continuous increase in the incidence of critical illness syndromes such as sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), improvements in supportive care have resulted in improved survival over the past few decades. For example, sepsis is estimated to…
Predicting outcome is a time-honored duty of physicians, dating back at least to the time of Hippocrates. The need for a quantitative approach to outcome prediction, however, is more recent. Although a patient or family members will still want to…
The intensive care unit (ICU) is a complex environment with multiple professionals practicing together to provide patient care. Although technology and care options for critically ill patients have advanced, resulting in improved patient outcomes, they add to the complexity of…