
Critical Matters
Podcast by Sound Physicians
Latest episodes

Mar 31, 2022 • 58min
Practicing Respect in the ICU
This is a previously released episode that I thought would be of great interest to our listeners. As we move forward post 24 months of COVID-19 reconnecting with our purpose and core values is more important than ever. In this episode, we discuss the practice of respect in the intensive care unit. Our guest is Samuel M. Brown, MD, MS, a practicing intensivist and Director of the Center for Humanizing Critical Care, at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. Dr. Brown holds an academic appointment as Associate Professor of Medicine at the University Of Utah School Of Medicine, Murray UT. He is a prolific investigator and author with a wide range of interests including complexity in critical illness, echocardiography, and ethics. Our conversation covers topics such as dignity, respect, compassion, and burnout. Join us in a fascinating discussion with a thought leader in bringing humanism to critical care.
Additional Resources:
Recent article co-authored by Dr. Brown and colleagues reviewing important aspects of the practice of respect in critical care medicine: https://bit.ly/3uFLou8
The Center for Humanizing Critical Care works with researchers and clinicians with the goal of helping patients and family members make it through critical illness with their humanity intact: https://bit.ly/3JTxfjp
Speak, Memory: An autobiography revisited. By Vladimir Nabokov: https://amzn.to/3iKaXVc

Mar 17, 2022 • 55min
The Fearless ICU (Part 2)
In a recent episode of the podcast, we had a wonderful conversation with Amy Edmondson (Twitter: @ AmyCEdmondson), on the elements of high-performing teams in complex environments. In this episode of the podcast, we examine psychological safety, teaming, and learning from failure within the context of building better ICU teams. The episode is a recording of a webinar I recently presented entitled “The Fearless ICU: Building a Culture of Healing and Transformation.”
Additional Resources:
Critical Matters podcast episode with Amy Edmondson – The Fearless ICU: https://bit.ly/365bjmv
Webinar- The Fearless ICU: Building a Culture of Healing and Transformation: https://bit.ly/3u2zlXs
What Google Learned in its Quest to Build the Perfect Team. New York Times: https://nyti.ms/3p84qHk
Implementing New Practices: An Empirical Study of Organizational Learning in Hospital Intensive Care Units. A. Edmondson et al. Management Science 2007: https://bit.ly/3JJXisP

Feb 24, 2022 • 51min
The Fearless ICU
The last 24 months have pushed ICU teams around the world to their limits. As we move forward, we need to heal and rebuild our critical care teams. Healthcare more than ever will require ICU teams to perform at the highest levels and to continuously innovate to deliver high-value care to the sickest of the sick. In today’s episode of the podcast, we will discuss the elements of The Fearless ICU. Our guest is Amy Edmondson (@AmyCEdmondson), the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School. For the last two decades, she has studied the elements of high-performing teams in complex environments.
Additional Resources:
Faculty page for Amy Edmondson. A great jumping point to her vast body of work: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/AmyEdmondson
How to turn a group of strangers into a team. TED Talk by Amy Edmondson: https://bit.ly/3vaKwzA
The Fearless Organization. By Amy Edmondson: https://amzn.to/3v7JzrJ
What Google Learned in its Quest to Build the Perfect Team. New York Times: https://nyti.ms/3p84qHk
Implementing New Practices: An Empirical Study of Organizational Learning in Hospital Intensive Care Units. A. Edmondson et al. Management Science 2007: https://bit.ly/3JJXisP
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
Get Rid of the Performance Review! By Samuel Culbert: https://amzn.to/354mYl3
Mindset. By Carol Dweck: https://amzn.to/3LRR2B8

Feb 10, 2022 • 1h
Severe Alcohol Withdrawal
In today’s episode, we will discuss the management of severe alcohol withdrawal in the intensive care unit. Our guest is Dr. Nick Mark (@nickmmark), a critical care physician practicing in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Mark is the founder and creator of www.onepagerICU.com - a wonderful resource that provides regularly updated comprehensive and practical one-page summaries on various critical care topics.
Additional Resources:
Link to the onepager on Alcohol Withdrawal. -https://onepagericu.com/
A statement on research needs for inpatient management of severe alcohol withdrawal from the American Thoracic Society. - https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.202108-1845ST
Guidelines for clinical management of alcohol withdrawal from American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). - https://bit.ly/3GIRkq6
Books mentioned in this episode:
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! By Richard Feynman. - https://amzn.to/34IZBgs
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. By Yuval Noah Harari. - https://amzn.to/3HGqsbE

Jan 27, 2022 • 54min
Fluid Responsiveness
Fluid resuscitation is a cornerstone of our treatment for circulatory failure and is often quite challenging to get right. In today’s episode of the podcast, we will discuss the prediction of fluid responsiveness. Our guest is Dr. Haney Mallemat, a critical care intensivist and emergency medicine clinician at Cooper University Health. He is also an associate professor of medicine and of emergency medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, in Camden, New Jersey.
Additional Resources:
Critical Care Now: A site for intensivists and resuscitationists. - https://criticalcarenow.com/
RESUS-X: The ultimate resuscitation educational experience. - https://bit.ly/3nXtWih
Prediction of fluid responsiveness: a review. Enev R, et al. 2021. - https://bit.ly/33NNHBT
Prediction of fluid responsiveness: an update. Monnet X, et al. 2016. - https://bit.ly/3H2R6ew
Predictors of fluid responsiveness in critically ill patients mechanically ventilated at low tidal volumes: systematic review and metanalysis. Alvarado Sanchez JI, et al. 2021 - https://bit.ly/3KJ6D5l
Music and Podcasts mentioned in this episode:
Haney’s musical recommendation – listen to the band Wilco. - https://wilcoworld.net/
99% Invisible. One of Haney’s favorite podcasts. Open access. - https://99percentinvisible.org/
The Joe Rogan Experience. Popular podcast on Spotify. - https://open.spotify.com/show/4rOoJ6Egrf8K2IrywzwOMk
EMRAP. A leading educational platform recommended by Haney. - https://www.emrap.org/

Jan 13, 2022 • 1h 8min
Every Deep-Drawn Breath: A Conversation with Wes Ely
As we start a new year, we look forward with the hope to grow and improve critical care medicine. In today’s episode of the podcast, we will discuss a path forward focused on healing, recovery, and transformation.
Our guest is Dr. Wes Ely, professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and co-director of the Center for Critical Illness, Brain dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS Center). Dr. Ely is the author of Every Deep-Drawn Breath – a wonderful book that will guide our discussion in this episode.
Additional Resources:
Link to the CIBS Center website, which contains a wealth of resources for intensivists on the topic of delirium: https://www.icudelirium.org
Kaleidoscope by Wes Ely: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25599355/
Don’t give COVID-19 long-haulers the Silent Treatment by Wes Ely: https://bit.ly/3GfgJbC
ABCDEF Bundle and Supportive ICU Practices for Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 Infection - An International Point Prevalence Study. K Liu, et al. Critical Care Explorations 2021: https://bit.ly/3qepqgS
Caring for Critically Ill Patients with the ABCDEF Bundle - Results of the ICU Liberation Collaborative in Over 15,000 Adults: https://bit.ly/3FeX0Hw
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
Every Deep-Drawn Breath by Wes Ely: https://www.icudelirium.org/every-deep-drawn-breath
In Shock by Rana Awdish: https://amzn.to/3JY9p6n
Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis: https://amzn.to/339MJ2m
East of Eden by John Steinbeck: https://amzn.to/3JXpRDN

Dec 23, 2021 • 1h 7min
Point of Care Ultrasonography (POCUS)
In today’s podcast episode, we will discuss Point of Care Ultrasonography (POCUS). We examine key trends in technology, the relationship of POCUS to consultative ultrasonography, growing clinical applications, and challenges with POCUS.
Our guest is Dr. Jose Luis Diaz-Gomez. Dr. Diaz- Gomez is the Chief of Transplant, Cardiovascular, and Mechanical Support Critical Care, and Director of Critical Care Echocardiography at Baylor, St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, Texas. He is a Senior Faculty in Cardiovascular Anesthesia and Critical Care at Baylor College of Medicine.
Additional Resources:
Point of Care Ultrasonography. By J.L. Diaz-Gomez et al. New England Journal of Medicine 2021: https://bit.ly/3JftVPt
Multi-organ point of care ultrasound for COVID-19 (PoCUS4COVID). Expert Consensus: https://bit.ly/3mrXvaF
Society of Critical Care Medicine Resources for critical care ultrasound: https://bit.ly/3yZsW1m
Point of care ultrasonography Certification – CHEST: https://bit.ly/32bZfyd
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do. By Erik Larson: https://amzn.to/3ySWDRm
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. By Greg McKeown: https://amzn.to/3EfVeFT

Dec 9, 2021 • 1h 6min
Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines 2021
In this episode of Critical Matters, we will discuss the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines 2021 update.
Our guest is Dr. Laura Evans. Dr. Evans is the medical director for critical care and professor in the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center. She is the current Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines co-chair and the lead author for the 2021 Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines.
Additional Resources:
Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines 2021: https://journals.lww.com/ccmjournal/Fulltext/2021/11000/Surviving_SepExecutive Summary: Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines 2021: https://journals.lww.com/ccmjournal/Fulltext/2021/11000/Executive_Summary__Surviving_Sepsis_Campaign_.14.aspx
Society of Critical Care Medicine Resources for SSC: https://www.sccm.org/SurvivingSepsisCampaign/Home
Hanlon's Razor: https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/philosophy/hanlons-razor/
Books Mentioned in this Episode: Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women by Elena Favilli and Francesca Vallo: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Night-Stories-Rebel-Girls/dp/0997895810/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13KK590LSPF64&keywords=good+night+stories+for+rebel+girls&qid=1638473265&sprefix=good+night+%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1

Nov 11, 2021 • 36min
Severe Acute Pancreatitis
In this episode of Critical Matters, we discuss the management of severe acute pancreatitis.
Our guest is Dr. Marc G Besselink (@MarcBesselink). He is Professor of pancreatic and hepatobiliary(HPB) surgery, at Amsterdam University Medical Centers in the Netherlands. Dr. Besselink is a member of the Dutch Pancreatitis Study Group and is the senior investigator of the POINTER clinical trial (recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine).
Additional Resources:
Acute Pancreatitis: https://bit.ly/3D6kONK
POINTER Clinical Trial - Immediate Versus Postponed Intervention for Infected Necrotizing Pancreatitis: https://bit.ly/3wxRLQN
PYTHON Clinical Trial - Early Versus On-demand Nasoenteric Tube Feeding in Acute Pancreatitis: https://bit.ly/3km1STK
APEC Clinical Trial - Urgent Versus Conservative ERCP for Acute Pancreatitis: https://bit.ly/3qlVK1I
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
The House of God by Samuel Shem: https://amzn.to/3wy8Lq2

Oct 28, 2021 • 1h 1min
Fluid BaSICS
In this episode of Critical Matters, we will discuss two important clinical questions regarding intravenous fluids. First: Does the composition of intravenous fluids impact patient outcomes? Second: Does the mode of administration (rapid bolus vs. slower infusion) matter?
Our guest is Michael J. Connor, Jr., MD, a practicing intensivist and nephrologist. He is an Associate Professor & Senior Physician of Critical Care Medicine & Nephrology at the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, & Sleep Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine. In addition, Dr. Connor is the Director for Critical Care Nephrology at the Emory Critical Care Center at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Additional Resources:
Does Crystalloid Composition or Rate of Fluid Administration Make a Difference When Resuscitating Patients in the ICU?: https://bit.ly/DDtMOT
BaSICS Trial – Balanced Solutions vs. 0.9 % Saline: https://bit.ly/3pH7Q51
BaSICS Trial – Slower vs, Faster Intravenous Fluid Bolus Rates: https://bit.ly/2ZvYSgy
The SPLIT Randomized Clinical Trial: https://bit.ly/3El5op1
The SMART Clinical Trial: https://bit.ly/DGMDQb
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain: https://amzn.to/AZza5g
Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds by Carmine Gallo: https://amzn.to/3pG0e2V