Emergency medicine, critical care, and resuscitationists often use the Shock Index to identify patients with increased mortality. The Shock Index is calculated by dividing heart rate by the systolic blood pressure, with a value > 0.8 identifying a potential critically ill patient. In the setting of sepsis, the use of systolic blood pressure to calculate the Shock Index may be less sensitive. In this podcast, we review a recent article that suggests the use of the Diastolic Shock Index may be better in identifying septic patients who require earlier initiation of vasopressor medications.
You can get CME credit for this episode here!Click here for CME Account Creation InstructionsIn this podcast, we discuss the recently published ADRENAL study and its implications for the use of steroids for patients with refractory septic shock?...
More than 3 million patients develop ARDS each year across the globe. Like any therapy, mechanical ventilation can induce further lung injury and cause...
Acute mental status changes after the ingestion of alcohol or other substances are a common presentation to the ED. Those with severe obtundation may...