SCCM Podcast

SCCM Pod-34 CCM: Lorazepam vs. Propofol

Shannon S. Carson, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and associate medical director of the medical and respiratory ICUs at the UNC Medical Center, as well as John P. Kress, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, discuss their article from the May 2006 Critical Care Medicine, "A Randomized Trial of Intermittent Lorazepam vs. Propofol With Daily Interruption in Mechanically Ventilated Patients." (Crit Care Med Volume 34, Number 5, May 2006 pp 1326-1332)

SCCM Pod-33 CC: Patient Safety and CPOE

Brian Jacobs, MD, project director of Integrating Clinical Information Systems, or ICIS, at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, discusses how efforts in computerized physician order entry relate to patient safety. The ICIS system is a computer-based system implemented Thuoughout the hospital Thuough which all medical orders are entered and documented electronically. The system, believed to be the most comprehensive in any pediatric hospital in the United States, is expected to reduce medical errors significantly.

SCCM Pod-32 CC: Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections

Vera De Palo, MD, outlines several common questions healthcare professionals should consider to help prevent catheter-related bloodstream infections in the ICU. Her article "Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections: Can We Make it Safer For Our Patients?" appears in the April issue of Critical Connections. Dr. DePalo is associate chief of medicine and director of critical care at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island. She also is an associate professor of medicine at Brown Medical School.(Crit Conn 2006 Vol.5 No.2)

SCCM Pod-31 CC: Prophylactic Antimicrobial Use in the ICU

Phil Barie, MD, MBA, FCCM, discusses his article from the April edition of Critical Connections on antibiotic prophylaxis. He addresses when this therapy is most useful as well as the consequences of overuse. Dr. Barie is professor of surgery and public health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, and he sits on the executive committee of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. (Crit Conn 2006 Vol.5 No.2)

SCCM Pod-30 CCM: Hospital Mortality Assessment

Jack Zimmerman, MD, FCCM, discusses his article in the May 2006 edition of Critical Care Medicine, "Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (or APACHE IV): Hospital Mortality Assessment for Today's Critically Ill Patients." Dr. Zimmerman is professor emeritus of anesthesia and critical care medicine at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (Critical Care Medicine Volume 34, Number 5, May 2006 pp 1297-1310)

SCCM Pod-29 CCM: Rationing in the ICU

Robert Truog, MD, discusses his article in the April issue of Critical Care Medicine, "Rationing in the Intensive Care Unit." Dr. Truog is professor of medical ethics and anesthesia, pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Childrens Hospital Boston. The article focuses on how ICU caregivers distribute resources in the ICU.

SCCM Pod-28 CCM: Morbid Obesity and the Surgical Critical Patient

Stanley Nasraway, MD, FCCM, discusses his article published in the April issue of Critical Care Medicine, titled "Morbid Obesity Is an Independent Determinant of Death Among Surgical Critically Ill Patients." Dr. Nasraway is associate professor of surgery, medicine and anesthesia at Tufts University and chief of the surgical intensive care units at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. His article addresses the growing number of morbidly obese patients entering the intensive care unit and suggests that customized processes be developed to address this unique and challenging patient population. (Critical Care Medicine Volume 34, Number 4, Apr 2006 pp 964-970)

SCCM Pod-27 CCM: Dopamine Influence on the Outcome of Shock

Jean-Louis Vincent, MD, PhD, FCCM, discusses an article from the March issue of Critical Care Medicine, "Does dopamine administration in shock influence outcome? Results of the Sepsis Occurrence in Acutely Ill Patients (SOAP) Study." (Critical Care Medicine, Volume 34, Number 3, Mar 2006, pp 589-597.)

SCCM Pod-26 PCCM: Assessing Sedation Levels of Mechanically Ventilated Pediatric Patients

Martha Curley, RN, PhD, discusses her article in the Mar 2006 issue of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, titled "State Behavioral Scale: A Sedation Assessment Instrument for Infants and Young Children Supported on Mechanical Ventilation." Dr. Curley, director of nursing research in critical care and cardiovascular nursing research at The Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, is a recognized expert in pediatric critical care nursing. She discusses the development and validation of the State Behavioral Scale, a tool used in the evaluation of the level of sedation in pediatric patients requiring mechanical ventilation. (Pediatric Care Medicine, Volume 7, Number 2 Mar 2006 pp 107-114)

SCCM Pod-25 Defining and Treating Abdominal Compartment Syndrome

Michael Cheatham, MD, FCCM, is director of the surgical trauma intensive care unit at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida. He discusses his article published in the February issue of Critical Connections titled, "Consensus Definitions for Intra-Abdominal Hypertension and Abdominal Compartment Syndrome." Dr. Cheatham is vice president of the World Society of the Abdominal Compartment Syndrome and has studied the impact of elevated intra-abdominal pressures for more than a decade.

SCCM Pod-24 Implementing the Surviving Sepsis Campaign

Michael Gropper, MD, PhD, is director of critical care medicine for the University of California San Francisco Medical Center and professor of medicine and anesthesiology at the medical school. He is one of the many healthcare professionals who have found success in implementing the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines and discusses the strategies for implementation as well as the challenges his institution faced.

SCCM Pod-23 Preventing Pediatric Trauma

Anthony Slonim, MD, DrPH, FCCM, and Angela Hsu, MD, both from the Children's National Medical Center at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., discuss their article in the February issue of Critical Connections, titled "Preventing Pediatric Trauma: The Role of the Critical Care Professional." They focus on the different levels of prevention in this patient population and how critical care professionals can play a more active role in making sure fewer young patients are treated for trauma. (Crit Conn 2006 Vol.5 No.1)

SCCM Pod-22 CCM Early Indicators of Sepsis Survival

Mitchell Levy, MD, FCCM, and Jean-Louis Vincent, MD, PhD, FCCM, discuss their article in the October issue of Critical Care Medicine. The article, "Early Changes in Organ Function Predict Eventual Survival in Severe Sepsis," can help clinicians identify variables associated with good outcomes in sepsis. The authors explain that if patients with sepsis are not getting better at the end of 24 hours, they may be getting worse. (Critical Care Medicine, Volume 33(issue 10) October 2005 pp 2194-2201).

SCCM Pod-21 Congress Keynotes Up Close

Gordon Bernard, MD, serves as the ARDSNet Steering Committee Chairman and shared his knowledge of the ARDSNet project with attendees of the 35th Critical Care Congress during his keynote presentation,"ARDSNet: Success and Challenges of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's First Critical Care Research Network." Dr. Bernard is the Melinda Owen Bass professor of pulmonary medicine, assistant vice-chancellor for research and director of the division of allergy, pulmonary, and critical care medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee.

SCCM Pod-20 Critical Care in Combat

Lt. Col. Chet Morrison, MD, director of surgical critical care at Michigan State University, shares his experiences serving as a military surgeon in Iraq and gives insight to critical care in combat settings.

SCCM Pod-19 Congress Keynotes Up Close

Timothy Quill, MD, one of seven prominent critical care leaders presenting during the plenary sessions at the 35th Critical Care Congress, discusses the Terry Schiavo case and how courts have played a role in end-of-life decision making. Dr. Quill is a professor of medicine, psychiatry and medical humanities, as well as the director of the Center for Palliative Care and Clinical Ethics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, N.Y.

Message from the SCCM Leadership: The Future of Critical Care and SCCM

The Society's of Critical Care Medicine's incoming president, Charles Durbin Jr., MD, FCCM, discusses the goals he would like to help the Society achieve as well as current topics in the profession, including implementing guidelines in critical care and utilizing the multiprofessional team.

December 2005 CC: Improving Family Conferences about End of Life

J. Randall Curtis, MD, MPH, discusses his article in the December 2005 issue of Critical Connections, "Improving Family Conferences About End of Life Care in the ICU." Dr. Curtis is the director of the end-of-life research program at the University of Washington in Seattle. He shares advice on how healthcare professionals can build trust with families with open and honest conversations about patient care and offers techniques and procedures associated with "successful" family conferences. (Crit Conn 2005 Vol.4 No.6)

December 2005 CC: Getting Our ICU Language Straight

Karin Kirchhoff, MSN, PhD, discusses her article published in the December 2005 issue of Critical Connections, "Getting Our ICU Language Straight." Dr. Kirchhoff is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing. She discusses how every member of the multiprofessional team can improve families experiences at the end of life by being sensitive to the language they use and involving the family at every stage of care. (Crit Conn 2005 Vol.4 No.6)

December 2005 CC: Pediatric End of Life

Robert Truog, MD, FCCM, discusses his article published in the December 2005 issue of Critical Connections, "Pediatric End of Life: Special Needs for Special Children." Dr. Truog is professor of medical ethics and anesthesia, pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital Boston. He discusses the unique challenges faced in the pediatric intensive care unit by physicians and family members. (Crit Conn 2005 Vol.4 No.6)