CCC Critical Care compendium 340
VBG versus ABG

Reviewed and revised 7 January 2016 OVERVIEW Venous blood gases (VBG) are widely used in the emergency setting in preference to arterial blood gases (ABG) as a result of research published since 2001 The weight of data suggests that venous pH…

CCC Critical Care compendium 340
Chloride in Critical Illness

Chloride is the major anion in the extracellular fluid (ECF) and is the second most important contributor to plasma tonicity. The possibility of harm from hyperchloraemia, particularly in the context of fluid resuscitation with chloride-rich solutions such as normal saline, is an area of intense research interest

CCC Critical Care compendium 340
Ammonia and hyperammonaemia

OVERVIEW Hyperammonaemia is easily forgotten as a potential cause of metabolic encephalopathy Ammonia is produced by the hepatic metabolism of amino acids and is primarily degraded via the urea cycle In the absence of obvious liver dysfunction or a drug…

CCC Critical Care compendium 340
Paediatric Dehydration Assessment

The most useful individual signs for predicting 5% dehydration in children are an abnormal capillary refill time, abnormal skin turgor and abnormal respiratory pattern. Combinations of examination signs provide a much better method than any individual signs in assessing the degree of dehydration.

CCC Critical Care compendium 340
Paediatric Hypothermia

Paediatric Hypothermia predisposition: radiation (large surface area to volume ratio, large head); convective (repeated examinations with exposure to atmosphere); conductive (loss of heat into bed); thermoregulatory response altered (sedation or paralysis, neurological injury)