Teamwork and Communication in Critical Care: Peter Brindley Peter Brindley explains why teamwork is the strongest drug in the hospital. Modern acute care medicine is eye-wateringly complex and potentially dangerous. Medicine cannot be delivered safely without addressing teamwork (in both acute and chronic situations). Historically, human factors were left to chance and recently, they have…
Life and Treatment After Sepsis: Simon Finfer Simon Finfer explains the future of sepsis treatment focusing on life after surviving sepsis. Sepsis is the life-threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to an infection damages its own tissues and organs. It can lead to shock, failure of multiple organs, and death. Organ failure and…
Learning from Error in Paediatric Sepsis Jo Anna Leuck discusses how to learn from error in paediatric sepsis. Rory was a healthy 12-year-old boy, known for his smile and for standing up for others. A simple fall during basketball practice caused an abrasion on his arm. This is the suspected beginning of a cascade of…
Hospital Handover of Major Trauma: Kieran Henry Kieran Henry gives his insights into hospital handovers of major trauma. He makes the comparison between prehospital care and the life lived in a Western movie. Kieran stresses that he does not want you to behave like a cowboy, jumping off your horse (ambulance) as it is still…
Hypothermia in Treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury Alistair Nichol explains the use of hypothermia in the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI is a major cause of mortality and long-term morbidity. It leads to terrible outcomes and is a major cause of health burden across the globe. Prophylactic hypothermia presents a promising treatment to…
Rethinking Acute Management of Stroke: Ryan Radecki Ryan Radecki urges you to rethink the acute management of stroke. The current way of thinking about stroke and the acute treatment has been around for decades. In this time, a lot has changed, new technologies have been developed and we have learnt a lot about the underlying…
How to manage conflict in Critical Care: Ronan O’Leary In this entertaining talk, Ronan O’Leary discusses conflict in critical care. Ronan explains how to make a team decision about whether or not to perform a decompressive craniectomy. Undertaking a decompressive craniectomy is perhaps one of the most challenging decisions we face within critical care. Ronan…
The Controversies in Brain Death: Martin Smith Martin Smith persuades you that controversies in brain death should not, and do not, exist. Almost fifty years since the concept of brain death was first introduced, some individuals and whole nations still struggle with its concept and justification. Many controversies continue to surround brain death, although there…
Neonatal and Paediatric Retrieval: Hazel Talbot Hazel Talbot gives her insights from working in neonatal and paediatric retrieval. She delivers her talk with all the passion and dedication that she brings to her work as a neonatal and paediatric transport consultant. Equipment failure, rapidly deteriorating children and miscommunication are all common challenges that Hazel and…
When to Transfuse in Acute Brain Injury: Oli Flower & Simon Finfer Simon Finfer argues that the transfusion threshold should be 70 g/L. Simon first raises the Choosing Wisely Guidelines for Critical Care. These state that one should not transfuse red blood cells in haemodynamically stable patients with a haemoglobin concentration of greater than 70g/L.…
