Critical Care Scenarios

Conceiving, planning, and building your career as a critical care PA or NP. Determining if this field is for you, finding your first job, pinpointing your interests or “niche” during your early career, nurturing your growth during the mid-career period, and some thoughts on life and priorities in your late career.

Looking at trauma from the perspective of a surgeon, with a focus on the perennial dilemma of when a patient needs surgery. Our guest is trauma surgeon Dr. Dennis Kim (@traumaicurounds), associate professor of Clinical Surgery at UCLA and medical director of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center SICU, as well as host of the Trauma ICU … Continue reading "Episode 35: When to operate in trauma with Dennis Kim"

Wrapping up our series on procedures with a talk about airway management. Who should manage airways in the ICU? What’s the role of intensivists, APPs, anesthesia, etc? What’s the “correct” balance of expertise, distribution of labor, and training? Our general approach to supraglottic airways, mask ventilation, intubation, cricothyrotomy, drugs, assessing airway anatomy, training, and more.

Evaluation of ischemic stroke, decisions for tPA and thrombectomy, supportive critical care, and monitoring for cerebral edema—with returning guest Thomas Lawson (@TomLawsonNP), nurse practitioner in the neurocritical care unit at OSU Wexner Medical Center and James Cancer Hospital. Thomas is now also a PhD student at the OSU College of Nursing where he studies the … Continue reading "Episode 33: Ischemic stroke with Thomas Lawson"

Following up from the last lightning rounds on vascular procedures, we look at non-vascular bedside procedures in the ICU: paracentesis, thoracentesis (including chest tubes), lumbar punctures, and bronchoscopy. How do we tap, what are our tricks, what’s the role of ultrasound, who needs a bronch, and more.

The art of taking a critically ill, heavily sedated, floridly delirious patient on aggressive vent support and pulling them out of the loop of sedation, immobility, and delirium. With Kali Dayton, ACNP-BC (@HomeIcu), critical care nurse practitioner and host of the Walking Home from the ICU podcast, where she looks closely at these issues, including … Continue reading "Episode 31: Practical mobility, awakening, and delirium prevention with Kali Dayton"

Diagnosing and treating DKA, including fluid management, lab studies, insulin management, managing acid-base abnormalities, transitioning off your drips, and all the rest. Takeaway lessons Calculate your anion gap and perhaps your strong ion difference (or bicarb gap). In most cases, consider checking a b-hydroxybutyrate and a lactate to confirm the diagnosis, but hyperglycemia + anion … Continue reading "Episode 30: Diabetic ketoacidosis"

A vascular access roundtable, discussing our practices surrounding arterial lines, central lines, PICC lines and midlines, and PA catheters. When do we place them? When can they come out? What sites do we like? When (and how) do we use ultrasound? What’s up with the axillary site, why does Brandon hate PICCs, the age-old debate … Continue reading "Episode 29: Lightning rounds #2"

How to take the well-resuscitated critically ill patient, get fluid out of them, deescalate their antibiotics, wean their sedation, reduce vent support, extubate, and get them out of the ICU—with Dr. Matt Siuba (Twitter: @msiuba), an intensivist at the Cleveland Clinic with an abiding interest in “zentensivism,” the art of doing less. Takeaway lessons Portal … Continue reading "Episode 28: Diuresis, deescalation, and liberation with Matt Siuba"

In this engaging discussion, Dr. Ross Hofmeyr, an anesthesiologist and co-founder of WildMedix, dives into the complexities of wilderness medicine. He shares insights on managing high-altitude illnesses like HAPE and HACE, and the importance of acclimatization for adventurers. The conversation takes a thrilling turn as they explore harrowing rescue scenarios, including specialized techniques for spinal stabilization in challenging environments. Dr. Hofmeyr also discusses advancements in evaluating intracranial pressure and the transformative opportunities in this exciting field.