Acute mental status changes after the ingestion of alcohol or other substances are a common presentation to the ED. Those with severe obtundation may require intubation for airway protection while the substance metabolizes. In fact, more than 20,000 patients are intubated each year in the United States for acute poisoning or intoxication. Notwithstanding, intubation and mechanical ventilation are not benign procedures. In this podcast we discuss the recently published NICO Trial, that evaluated a strategy of withholding intubation in patients with coma due to acute poisoning.
Several recent articles have challenged the long-held belief that we should treat fever in patients with sepsis? In this episode we review these recent...
More than 3 million patients develop ARDS each year across the globe. Like any therapy, mechanical ventilation can induce further lung injury and cause...
Over the past decade, the annual hours of critical care delivered in US emergency departments has sharply risen. Undoubtedly, many critically ill patients remain...