SCCM Podcast

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...

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 Med...

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 V...

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.

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, Massa...

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.)

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 recognize...

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 Syndrom...

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 i...

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 populat...

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,...

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, assista...

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.

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 Univ...

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.

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 patie...

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 invo...

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 membe...

The Society of Critical Care Medicine president, Peter Angood, MD, FCCM, discusses the growth and success of the Society as he prepares to pass the leadership torch at the end of the year. He cites the Society growing international scope, its collaboration with other organizations and its Right Care, Right Now campaign as being among SCCM most distinguishable accomplishments.

Adrienne Randolph, MD, MSc, served as guest editor for the May 2005 supplement to Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Randolph shares her thoughts on the importance of the 1st International Sepsis Forum on Sepsis in Infants and Children and the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigator's (PALISI) Network. She also highlights the most important aspects from the supplement, which she pla...

Cathie Guzzetta, RN, PhD, HNC, discusses the experiences that led her to interest in the holistic approach to critical care. She shares her thoughts on caring for the mind, body and spirit of patients and families, including the controversies behind allowing some families to be present during CPR and invasive procedures. Guzzetta is director of Holistic Nursing Consultants in Washington, D.C., and...

Brian Silverstein, vice president of Sg2 Health Care Intelligence, a consulting organization that provides medical professionals with information on changes in the technology, financing and delivery of healthcare services, shares his thoughts on advising in the healthcare industry. He addresses the challenges that institutions face in communication and culture as well as his thoughts on the antici...

Dr. Scott Dulchavsky's studies of critical care in space may have major influences in intensive care on Earth. Learn more about him and his work before he takes the stage during a 35th Critical Care Congress plenary session.

Two Society members discuss their experiences treating evacuees of Hurricane Katrina, the level of preparedness they saw within their hospitals and what lessons they will take from this disaster.

Interview with Society member Barbara McLean, MN, CCRN, CRNP, FCCM