Critical Care
Acute respiratory distress syndrome: Why a definition mattersThe new definition brings acute respiratory distress syndrome into the realm of physicians working on hospital general medicine wards.
- High-output heart failure from arteriovenous dialysis access: A structured approach to diagnosis and management
Arteriovenous high-output heart failure is likely underdiagnosed because many clinicians are uncertain about when and how to evaluate for it.
- Managing right ventricular failure in the setting of pulmonary embolism
The authors review current management strategies, including medical, percutaneous interventional, and surgical options, and discuss recent advances in the field.
- How can I better recognize and manage delirium in my hospitalized patients?
By knowing common precipitants and mimickers of delirium and considerations for workup, clinicians can implement nonpharmacologic preventive strategies, better identify patients experiencing delirium, and optimize symptom management.
- Shortness of breath in a 52-year-old man with HIV and severe mitral regurgitation
The patient presented with 3 weeks of acute on chronic dyspnea on exertion with progression to dyspnea at rest and associated orthopnea.
- What fluids should I order for my patient with acute pancreatitis?
Recent data show that moderate fluid resuscitation is associated with fewer adverse events and that lactated Ringer’s may be superior to normal saline.
- Do patients with sepsis benefit from intravenous albumin?
Patients with sepsis who do not need vasopressors do not benefit from intravenous albumin compared with intravenous crystalloid therapy alone.
- Does my patient with acute variceal hemorrhage need a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt?
Placement of a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt can be used as salvage therapy to control bleeding when endoscopic management fails and as a means of secondary prophylaxis in select patients.
