SCCM Podcast

Host Elizabeth H. Mack, MD, MS, FCCM, welcomes Elizabeth Y. Killien, MD, MPH, to discuss pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS). Dr. Killien explains the findings from her retrospective study on PARDS severity, emphasizing how factors such as severe hypoxemia can impact health-related quality of life (HRQL) after discharge. (Killien EY, et al. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2024;25:816-827). Dr. Killien is an attending physician in the pediatric ICU and an assistant professor at Seattle Children’s Hospital, University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle, Washington.

Host Ludwig Lin, MD, welcomes Dr. Raghavan Murugan, a renowned professor of critical care medicine and a leader in critical care nephrology. They delve into innovative fluid management strategies in continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). Dr. Murugan discusses the critical importance of updated CRRT practices for improved clinical outcomes. He emphasizes the advantages of CRRT over traditional methods and highlights the need for personalized fluid management approaches tailored to individual patient needs in the ICU.

Host Maureen A. Madden, DNP, RN, CPNC-AC, CCRN, FCCM, sits down with Christina L. Cifra, MD, MS, to discuss communication strategies for interfacility transfers to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Dr. Cifra shares insights from her recent study on verbal handoffs during transfers, examining the challenges and vital elements of communication during these high-stakes situations (Thirnbeck CK, et al. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2024;52:162-171). Dr. Cifra is an attending physician in the Division of Medical Critical Care at Boston Children's Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Patients with sepsis are regularly transferred to intensive care units, but there is a dearth of literature that describes the type of communication occurring between the receiving and referring clinicians after these transfers take place. The Society of Critical Care Medicine's (SCCM) Diagnostic Excellence Program sought to gain a better understanding of these communications through an in-depth survey. In this podcast, host Kyle B. Enfield, MD, discusses the survey results with grant principal investigator Greg S. Martin, MD, MSc, FCCM. Dr. Martin also discusses a new toolkit created by SCCM to facilitate better transfer communication. Learn more about the toolkit and the Diagnosis Excellence Program at sccm.org/diagnosticexcellence. This podcast offers 0.25 hours of accredited continuing education (ACE) credit. Learn more at https://sccm.org/diagnosticexcellence The Diagnostic Excellence Program is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through a grant program administered by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies to support the development and dissemination of resources and programs to improve the timeliness, accuracy, safety, efficiency, patient-centeredness, and equity of diagnostic outcomes for patients in the United States. Dr. Martin, a past SCCM president, is the James Paullin Distinguished Professor and division director of pulmonary, allergy, critical care and sleep medicine at Emory University. He is an international authority on critical care medicine and an expert on sepsis, COVID-19, and ARDS, having conducted groundbreaking clinical trials on these conditions, coauthored the Sepsis-3 definition, and published seminal papers for diagnosing and treating critically ill patients.

Retaining highly skilled advanced practice nurses and physician assistants in intensive care units is vital for maintaining excellent quality and safety in critical care. In the third episode of SCCM's podcast series on quality and safety in critical care, Diane C. McLaughlin, DNP, AGACNP-BC, CCRN, FCCM, is joined by Roy H. Constantine, MPH, PA-C, PhD, FCCM, and Jose Chavez, DNP, CNS, RN, CCRN, FCCM, to discuss best practices for retention and how retention impacts patient outcomes in critical care settings.

The importance of retaining seasoned physicians in the ICU is crucial for maintaining high standards of patient care. In the second episode of SCCM’s podcast series on quality and safety in critical care, Elizabeth H. Mack, MD, MS, FCCM, is joined by Alexander O. Sy, MBA, MD, MSL, FCCM, to discuss effective retention strategies, their direct impact on patient outcomes, and the broader effects on healthcare teams and organizational efficiency.

Host Samantha Gambles Farr, MSN, AG-ACNP, FNP-C, RNFA, is joined by Roman Melamed, MD, to discuss the comparative effectiveness of reduced-dose versus full-dose alteplase for acute pulmonary embolism, focusing on patient outcomes and complications. They will highlight study findings on significant improvements in hemodynamic and respiratory parameters in both groups, with a lower rate of hemorrhagic complications in the reduced-dose group (Melamed R, et al. Crit Care Med. 2024;52:729-742). Dr. Melamed is a critical care intensivist and director of the Pulmonary Embolism Program at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, and an adjunct associate professor at the University of Minnesota.

Host Marilyn N. Bulloch, PharmD, BCPS, FCCM, is joined by Catherine Beni, MD, PhD, to discuss a study aimed at determining outcomes of extracorporeal CPR (ECPR) in pediatric patients without congenital cardiac disease and identifying associations with in-hospital mortality of factors such as initial arrest rhythm and patient demographics (Beni CE, et al. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2023 Nov;24:927-935). Catherine Beni, MD, PhD, is a resident physician in the department of surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

Host Maureen A. Madden, DNP, RN, CPNC-AC, CCRN, FCCM, is joined by Michael C. McCrory, MD, MS, FCCM, to discuss a multicenter retrospective study evaluating the impact of neighborhood, as categorized by the Child Opportunity Index, on pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) outcomes such as mortality, illness severity, and PICU length of stay. The study highlights the disparities in PICU admissions based on socioeconomic factors (McCrory MC, et al. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2024 Apr;25:323-334). Michael C. McCrory, MD, MS, FCCM, is an associate professor in the departments of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Host Elizabeth H. Mack, MD, MS, FCCM, is joined by Samuel Snider, MD, and Michael Fong, MD, to discuss a retrospective cohort study that examined factors such as cardiac arrest, brain neoplasms, and EEG patterns to determine their association with status epilepticus and isolated seizures in critically ill patients, aiming to improve monitoring and treatment strategies for high-risk patients (Snider SB, et al. Crit Care Med. 2023 Aug;51:1001-1011). Samuel Snider, MD, is a board-certified neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an instructor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Michael Fong, MD, is an assistant professor adjunct at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.