CCC Update 008
As you know, the LITFL Critical Care Compendium is a living resource built around the knowledge base needed for the FCICM exam, but extends far beyond those conservative boundaries. Plugging away on this project is where I spend most of my time ‘living in the fast lane’.
Here is what is new or undergone a major overhaul recently:
- A problem that may be trivial, or life-threatening – as is the treatment!
- Few areas of medicine are funkier than haemolytic anaemia. The myriad causes, investigations and potential complications (respect cold agglutination is all I can say…) might even cause a bead of sweat to form on Dr. House’s furrowed brow. Here is my distillation of this challenging critical care problem.
- This page may be biased, as I think in situ simulation is the greatest thing since the laryngoscope blade bottle opener. The pros, the cons, the safety issues, how to ensure success and the evidence – it is all here.
- Based on a clinical update by James Hayes, this page outlines the clinical issues regarding the new oral anticoagulant rivaroxaban, an orally active Factor IXa inhibitor.
- Statins have pleiotropic effects and are being studied for numerous conditions in intensive care. Here is another excellent ‘critical evaluation’ of a putative therapy for the critically ill by Sarah Yong.
- Vitamin D also has pleiotropic (the word of the day) effects and is often low in the critically ill. So should we be replacing it? Could this be a future ‘critically evaluate’ question in the FCICM Part II exam? This is a great overview by Sarah Yong.
Critical Care
Compendium
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at The Alfred ICU, where he is Deputy Director (Education). He is a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University, the Lead for the Clinician Educator Incubator programme, and a CICM First Part Examiner.
He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives. He was one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) has been recognised for his contributions to education with awards from ANZICS, ANZAHPE, and ACEM.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Bluesky, he is @precordialthump.bsky.social and on the site that Elon has screwed up, he is @precordialthump.
| INTENSIVE | RAGE | Resuscitology | SMACC