ECLS in the ED

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Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is being used with increasing frequency in many EDs across the US and across the World. In this podcast, we review the basics of ECLS, as well as discuss the current indications, contraindications, and complications of this critical therapy. In addition, we review some key pearls and pitfalls in the cannulation of patients for ECLS.

The Post-Cardiac Surgery Patient in Your ED!

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More than 200,000 patients per year undergo coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Up to 20% of these patients will require readmission within 30-days. Many of these patients present to our EDs with numerous complications that we must be able to recognize and treat. In this podcast, John leads an outstanding discussion on the 3 most common complications and reasons these patients present to the ED.

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.