Critical Connections Blog

What Critical Care Clinicians Need to Know Today About MIS-C
Clinicians are sharing early findings about an emerging critical illness predominantly affecting school-aged children and young adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has defined criteria, calling it Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Associated with COVID-19.  
Posted: 5/22/2020 | 0 comments

Sharing Data is the Key to Unlocking Remdesivir Challenges
Critical care teams should consider using remdesivir to treat patients with severe acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, but supply of the drug is limited and best practices for maximizing its effectiveness are not completely understood.
Posted: 5/15/2020 | 0 comments

Concise Critical Appraisal: Planning and Provision of ECMO for Severe ARDS From COVID-19
This Concise Critical Appraisal explores a Lancet Respiratory Medicine article by Ramanathan et al, which outlines how to plan for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) related to COVID-19. ECMO is a complex therapy usually restricted to specialized centers. World Health Organization guidelines suggest that carefully selected patients with ARDS may benefit. The authors explore how good planning can help during outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases.
Posted: 5/13/2020 | 0 comments

Clinicians Report High Stress in COVID-19 Response
Critical care clinicians are feeling increased personal stress about COVID-19 and are especially worried about infecting loved ones, while also expressing continued concern about personal protective equipment (PPE) and staffing shortages, according to a rapid-cycle survey from SCCM.
Posted: 5/5/2020 | 0 comments

SCCM President-Elect to Fast-Track COVID-19 Testing
SCCM's president-elect Greg S. Martin, MD, MSc, FCCM, is among the experts tapped to lead a national effort to super-charge the innovation, development, and commercialization of a COVID-19 testing by fall 2020.
Posted: 5/1/2020 | 0 comments

SCCM Deploys Supplies and Volunteers to Support ICUs in Need
With hospitals in hardest-hit areas clamoring for clinicians, supplies, and equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, SCCM has been working with other nonprofits and corporations to answer the hospitals' call for help. SCCM partnered with Direct Relief to send ICU kits that included more than 86,000 units of essential pharmaceuticals to hospitals in New York and South Dakota.
Posted: 4/24/2020 | 0 comments

Concise Critical Appraisal: Use of Early Versus Late Enteral Nutrition in Critically Ill Children
What is the benefit of early versus late nutrition in critically ill children? In this Concise Critical Appraisal, Daniel E. Sloniewsky, MD, FCCM, offers a deep dive on this Pediatric Critical Care Medicine article by Srinivasan et al, which sought to answer this question using data from the Heart and Lung Failure-Pediatric Insulin Titration (HALF-PINT) study.
Posted: 4/22/2020 | 0 comments

Message from the President: COVID-19
Acute inpatient care—and critical care in particular—has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in unprecedented ways. Hospital entry screening, reduction or near-elimination of visitation, universal masks, and concerns regarding the supply of beds, medications, personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and ICU team members are chief among the changes. But these are not the only changes that now characterize our daily work and workflow.
Posted: 4/17/2020 | 0 comments

SCCM Member Volunteers to Care for NYC COVID-19 Patients
SCCM member Gregory Margolin, DO, FCCP, FCCM, will be volunteering in New York City next week. He has been treating critically ill patients with COVID-19 at his hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, and will continue his efforts by treating patients at the Javits Center, the convention center in Manhattan repurposed for COVID-19 overflow.
Posted: 4/10/2020 | 0 comments

ICU Readiness Assessment: We Are Not Prepared for COVID-19
Nearly 5,000 U.S. intensive care unit (ICU) clinicians say that their ICUs are not prepared for the potential onslaught of COVID-19 patients. According to the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) ICU Readiness Assessment, their specific concerns range from shortages of supplies and staff, patient surge and overcrowding, and personal protective equipment.
Posted: 4/1/2020 | 0 comments

Critical Care Physician Tapped to Lead COVID-19 Testing Efforts
Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett P. Giroir, MD, a prominent critical care physician who has a long history of membership and involvement with the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), has been tapped to lead one of the most important missions in the government's COVID-19 response.
Posted: 3/30/2020 | 0 comments

SCCM Member Provides Remote Disaster Response to Italy
SCCM Member and disaster management expert Marie R. Baldisseri, MD, MPH, FCCM, is helping Italy remotely with their COVID-19 response plans. Dr. Baldisseri shares her knowledge about the situation in Italy and talks about what drives her to respond in times of crisis. 
Posted: 3/30/2020 | 0 comments

United States Resource Availability for COVID-19
With the onset of COVID-19, and the strong possibility of large percentages of the U.S. population being admitted to the hospital and intensive care unit (ICU), the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) has updated its statistics on critical care resources available in the United States.
Posted: 3/13/2020 | 0 comments

Concise Critical Appraisal: Dexamethasone Use in the Treatment of ARDs
Villar et al (Lancet Respir Med. 2020;8:267-276) attempted to demonstrate the effect of steroids in patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) along with modern standard ICU practices, including lung-protective mechanical ventilation.
Posted: 3/10/2020 | 0 comments

ICU Liberation Labs: Engaging the Team Ensures the ICU Liberation Bundle Improves Patient Outcomes
The ICU Liberation Labs during the 49th Critical Care Congress featured information about the ICU Liberation Initiative – which aims to liberate patients from the harmful effects of pain, agitation/sedation, delirium, immobility, and sleep disruption that are common after ICU stays – and offered insights on the bundle’s implementation from ICU Liberation Collaborative members.
Posted: 2/20/2020 | 0 comments

Discovery Grant Awarded to Researchers Seeking to Uncover Drivers of PARDS; Improve Therapy
Researchers seeking to evaluate the causes of PARDS and improve therapy options have been awarded the Discovery Research Grant, making it the first time the full grant has been awarded to a single project because of the strength of the grant.
Posted: 2/18/2020 | 0 comments

SCCM Awards Three Weil-Research Grants
Named for Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) founder and its first president, Max Harry Weil, MD, PhD, MCCM, the SCCM-Weil Research Grant is typically awarded to two SCCM members as a stepping-stone to carry out basic, translational, or clinical research. SCCM seeks to sponsor research efforts that will ultimately improve patient care in the intensive care unit (ICU) and after hospital discharge. For the first time, SCCM has increased the number of grants from two to three: Thomas S. Valley, MD, MSc; Jacob S. Brenner, MD, PhD; and Blair N. Wendlandt, MD, MSc.
Posted: 2/18/2020 | 0 comments

From the PICU to America’s Got Talent: Angelica Hale’s Story
Most people know Angelica Hale as the tenacious young lady who won hearts with her incredible performances on America’s Got Talent in 2017. But before she became the youngest runner-up in the show’s history, she was a severely ill four-year-old with sepsis and kidney failure. Read ICU Heroes Award winner Angelica Hale's story.
 
Posted: 2/17/2020 | 0 comments

Message from the President: Sepsis
In 2001 a sepsis definitions conference was held to determine whether new data existed to inform updates to the sepsis criteria established in 1991. Afterward, the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) announced plans to launch the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) with the goal of reducing mortality from sepsis by 25%. Given the prominence of sepsis and septic shock as emergency conditions, it is worthwhile to review how care has evolved to its current format and the future directions it may take.
Posted: 2/12/2020 | 0 comments

Surviving Sepsis Campaign Releases First Children’s Sepsis Guidelines
The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) is committed to reducing mortality and morbidity from sepsis and septic shock worldwide. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) released its first evidence-based guidelines for the pediatric patient population. “Surviving Sepsis Campaign International Guidelines for the Management of Septic Shock and Sepsis-Associated Organ Dysfunction in Children” was published in the February 2020 issue of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (Weiss S, et al. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2020;21(2);e52-e106).
Posted: 2/7/2020 | 0 comments