Analgesia & Sedation in the Critically Ill

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Untreated pain, anxiety, and agitation have both short- and long-term consequences for our critically ill patients. More importantly, it is well-known that patients remember the pain experienced during their critical illness. New guidelines for the assessment and management of pain, agitation, delirium, immobility, and sleep were just published. In this podcast, we review the latest guideline and discuss pearls and pitfalls of analgesia and sedation in the critically ill.

Bicarbonate for Severe Acidosis?

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Many critically ill patients are acidotic.  Often, bicarbonate is administered to severely acidotic patients, but does it really improve outcomes?  The BICAR-ICU was just published in the NEJM and evaluated the use of bicarbonate in patients with severe metabolic acidosis.  In this podcast, we go over the results and discuss the use of bicarbonate in critically ill patients.

A Clean Kill? Ventilating the Asthmatic Patient

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Mechanically ventilating the patient with a severe asthma exacerbation is fraught with peril.  Incorrect settings for tidal volume, respiratory rate, pressure triggers, or inspiratory flow can quickly worsen hyperinflation and case hemodynamic collapse.  In this episode we tackle the pitfalls and provide the key pearls you NEED to know!