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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.


SCCM's Decision on In-Person Meetings

SCCM is adjusting the format of its meetings and conferences to reflect these new realities. After careful consideration and feedback from many members, SCCM has come to the difficult decision to reposition its upcoming in-person meetings and educational programs.


SCCM Pod-370 2018 Presidential Address: High-Value Care

Kyle B. Enfield, MD, speaks with SCCM President Jerry J. Zimmerman, MD, PhD, FCCM, about the 2018 presidential address on high-value care that Dr. Zimmerman presented at the Society's 47th Critical Care Congress in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr. Zimmerman is an attending physician in the pediatric intensive care unit at Seattle Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington.


SCCM Pod-344 Developing an ICU Diary in the Pediatric ICU

Todd Fraser, MD, speaks with Jenny Tcharmtchi, BSN, RN, CCRN, about the article, “Family Experience in the PICU,” published in Critical Connections, the Society of Critical Care Medicine's newsletter. Ms. Tcharmtchi discusses her unit’s effort to better understand the family experience in the ICU through development of a survey. She also discusses implementing an ICU diary to facilitate communication between patient families and ICU staff. Ms. Tcharmtchi is a nurse leader in the pediatric intensive care unit at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. 


SCCM Pod-343 Patient Diaries in the ICU

Ludwig Lin, MD, speaks with Christina Jones, PhD, RN, about the ICU Patient Diary Network. Dr. Jones discusses the widespread adoption of ICU diaries in the United Kingdom, various models that institutions are using, and the overall positive impact that implementation has had on patients, families, and providers. Patients suffering from post-traumatic syndrome disorder (PTSD) after the ICU is also addressed. Dr. Jones is a retired nurse consultant in critical care rehabilitation in the ICU at Whiston Hospital in Prescot, United Kingdom, and honorary reader at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Aging and Chronic Disease in Liverpool. She is now the research manager for the support group charity, ICUsteps. Dr. Jones has no relevant disclosures.


SCCM Pod-235 Study Explores the Impact of 24/7 In-House Coverage in a Pediatric ICU

Margaret Parker, MD, MCCM, speaks with Kyle Rehder, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics in the division of pediatric critical care medicine at Duke Children's Hospital. They discuss the article published in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Survey of In-house Coverage by Pediatric Intensivists (SINCOPI): Characterization of 24/7 In-Hospital Pediatric Critical Care Faculty Coverage. Rehder surveyed pediatric critical care professionals at academic centers about perceived effects on 24/7 coverage on faculty, patients and education.


SCCM Pod-231: Family Presence: Evidence vs. Emotion

Margaret Parker, MD, FCCM speaks with Cathie Guzzetta, RN, PhD, HNC, FAAN, Director of Holistic Nursing Consultants at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. Dr. Guzzetta has been mentoring nurses and physicians in conducting family presence research and developing family presence programs since the mid-1990s. She will discuss Family Presence during CPR and invasive procedures. This podcast is made possible through a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in support of Project Dispatch -- Disseminating Patient-Centered Outcomes Research to Healthcare Professionals. This project was supported by grant number R18HS21940 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.


SCCM Pod-221: Improving Patient and Family Satisfaction in the Surgical ICU

Michael Weinstein, MD, FACS, FCCP, speaks with Matthew Lissauer, MD, FACS, to discuss his surgical intensive care unit’s efforts to improve the care provided to critically ill and injured patients and their families. His efforts were rewarded when his institution received the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s 2013 Patient and Family-Centered Care Award. Their efforts have led to a noticeable improvement in communication, patient satisfaction, collegiality, and in being able to discuss issues with people who aren’t often in the ICU. Dr. Lissauer is an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Clinically, he is an acute care surgeon, surgical intensivist and the Medical Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland.


SCCM Pod-207 PCCM: Attendance During Family-Centered Rounds

Margaret Parker, MD, FCCM, speaks with Matthew J. Drago, MD, MBE, lead author on the article “Are Family Characteristics Associated With Attendance at Family Centered Rounds in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit,” which was published in the February 2013 Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. The study looked at interactions between families and providers, finding that families who participated in rounds felt their children received better care. Dr. Drago is a pediatric resident at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.


SCCM Pod-190 CCM: Challenges within Interhospital Patient Transfers

Jeffrey Guy, MD, MSc, MMHC, speaks with Theodore J. Iwashyna, MD, PhD, about his August Critical Care Medicine article, “The Incomplete Infrastructure or Interhospital Patient Transfer.” They address the daily challenges critical care providers at all levels face in identifying, negotiating and managing patient transfers. Iwashyna is an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.


SCCM Pod-177 CCM: Organizational Culture and Family Satisfaction

Michael S. Weinstein, MD, FACS, FCCP, talks with Peter M. Dodek, MD, MHSc, FRCPC, FACP, about his article published in the May 2012 Critical Care Medicine, "The Relationship Between Organizational Culture and Family Satisfaction in Critical Care." Dodek is an intensive care physician and health services researcher in the Center for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.


SCCM Pod-149 Critical Care Coding and Billing

George A. Sample, MD, is a senior attending in critical care at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC. He discusses current and emerging topics in coding and billing, including the end of consultation codes for Medicare patients and the future of consults for non-Medicare patients. He addresses the complexities of 24/7 coverage and time-based billing in critical care while reviewing highlights of the Coding and Billing for Critical Care: Practice Tool, Fourth Edition, including new chapters on ultrasound, echocardiography and consultation.


SCCM Pod-119 PCCM: Does Fellowship Program Size and Rotations Affect Clinical and Research Time?

Wynne Morrison, MD, discusses an article published in the May issue of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, which highlighted the results of a national survey of pediatric critical care medicine fellowship clinical and research time allocation. Dr. Morrison is director of the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.


SCCM Pod-111 CCM: Family Presence and Physician Performance

Rosemarie Fernandez, MD, an assistant professor at Wayne State University in Michigan, discusses an article published in the June 2009 issue of Critical Care Medicine, “The Presence of a Family Witness Impacts Physician Performance During Simulated Medical Codes.” This is the second iCritical Care Podcast to address this topic; listeners also may reference SCCM Pod-72 PCCM: Family Presence During Pediatric CPR.


SCCM Pod-449 Family Nurse Practitioners in the ICU

Family nurse practitioners (FNPs) who do not have acute care certification may be recruited to work in ICUs that lack enough acute care nurses, which is a challenge for both the ICU and the FNP. When the FNP moves on to another institution, that institution may not consider the FNP’s ICU experience to be an adequate qualification. Host Diane C. McLaughlin, DNP, AGACNP-BC, CCRN, is joined by Christian Santos, MSN, FNP-BC, and Mariah Rose, ARNP, both nurse practitioners at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, to discuss the difficulties of FNPs who need acute care certification to work in ICUs. Christian Santos, MSN, FNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Mariah Rose, ARNP, is a nurse practitioner at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.


SCCM Pod-426 CRRT in the ICU From a Nursing Perspective

Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) requires considerable involvement from the bedside nurse. Host Michael Smith, MD, is joined by Barbara McLean, MN, RN, CCNS-BC, NP-BC, CCRN, FCCM, to explore when to start CRRT, the nursing role, and other considerations and challenges. Barbara McLean is a critical care clinical nurse specialist at Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This podcast is sponsored by Baxter Healthcare.


SCCM Pod-356 Repeated Critical Illness and Unplanned Readmissions to PICUs

Margaret Parker, MD, MCCM, speaks with Jeffrey D. Edwards, MD, MA, MAS, about the article, “Repeated Critical Illness and Unplanned Readmissions Within 1 Year to PICUs,” published in the August 2017 issue of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Edwards discusses how critical illness impacts children with complex chronic conditions and how these medically complex children impact critical care services. Dr. Edwards is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Critical Care in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physician and Surgeons in New York. Crit Care Med. 2017; 45(8):1276-1284. Released: 1/2/18


SCCM Pod-349 Implementation of an ICU Bundle in the PICU

Margaret Parker, MD, MCCM, speaks with Shari Simone, DNP, about the article, “Implementation of an ICU Bundle: An Interprofessional Quality Improvement Project to Enhance Delirium Management and Monitor Delirium Prevalence in a Single PICU,” published in the June 2017 issue of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Simone discusses results from her team's quality improvement project to improve detection, prevention, and management of delirium in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Dr. Simone is Nurse Practitioner Clinical Program Manager for the Women's and Children's Services and a Nurse Practitioner in the Pediatric ICU at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in the Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. Access ABCDEF Bundle resources and the Pain, Agitation, and Delirium guidelines at www.iculiberation.org. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2017; 18(6):531-540. Released: 8/31/17


SCCM Pod-219 PCCM: Readmissions to the Pediatric ICU

Margaret Parker, MD, FCCM, speaks with MD, MPH, Angela S. Czaja, MD, MSc, lead author on an article published in the July Pediatric Critical Care Medicine titled, “Unscheduled Readmissions to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Epidemiology, Risk Factors and Variation Among Centers.” Dr. Czaja’s study found that the rate of unscheduled PICU readmissions was low but associated with worse outcomes. Additionally, patient and admission/discharge characteristics associated with increased risk of readmissions could be used to target high-risk populations or modifiable factors to improve outcome. Czaja is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Colorado, in Aurora, Colorado, USA.


SCCM Pod-198 CCM: Cost Savings and Quality Improvement

Michael Weinstein, MD, FACS, FCCP, speaks with Amay Parikh, MD, MBA, MS, lead author on an article published in the October Critical Care Medicine, “Quality Improvement and Cost Savings After Implementation of the Leapfrog Intensive Care Unit Physician Staffing Standard at a Community Teaching Hospital.” The article sought to determine whether improved outcomes in specific quality measures would result in an overall cost savings in patient care. Parikh specializes in nephrology and critical care at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey.