Spinal Imaging
Spinal Imaging: CT is the best way to image the spine for bony injuries (will miss 6% of discoligamentous injuries). If suspected soft tissue or spinal cord injury -> patient requires an MRI
Category CCC
The LITFL Critical Care Compendium is a comprehensive collection of pages concisely covering the core topics and controversies of critical care.
Spirometry
Spirometry
Stool specimens
OVERVIEW microscopy and culture is useful in community acquired diarrhoeal syndromes (not useful otherwise) in-hospital:— blood = ischaemic bowel or surgical cause— diarrhoea = rule out Clostridium difficile infection MICROSCOPY parasites, cysts, ova: giardia, cryptosporidium, blastocystis red and white cells:…
Synovial fluid analysis
Synovial fluid analysis: - appearance; WCC; RBC; microscopy + culture; protein; LDH; glucose; crystals
Ultrasound in Critical Care
Ultrasound in Critical Care: many roles; increasing applicability in emergency medicine and ICU
Urinalysis
CCC overview of urinalysis
Bleeding Time
Bleeding time
Bone Marrow Biopsy
Bone Marrow Biopsy: Confirm diagnosis. Allows therapy to be targeted. Needs to be done only, if the answer cannot be seen from peripheral blood already.
Standard precautions CCC
Standard precautions are work practices that provide a first-line approach to infection prevention in the healthcare environment.
How to analyse a clinical trial
Clinicians must be able to critically appraise clinical trials to determine their internal validity. Trials should adhere to the CONSORT statement (CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials)
Acute Pulmonary Hypertension: Causes
Causes of Acute Pulmonary Hypertension