Critical care clinics
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Critical care clinics · Oct 2022
ReviewEssential Emergency and Critical Care: A Priority for Health Systems Globally.
Critical illness is a state of ill health with vital organ dysfunction, a high risk of imminent death if care is not provided, and the potential for reversibility. An estimated 45 million adults become critically ill each year. ⋯ We outline a priority for health systems globally: the first-tier care that all critically ill patients should receive in all parts of all hospitals: Essential Emergency and Critical Care. We describe its relation to other specialties and care and opportunities for implementation.
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Critical care clinics · Oct 2022
ReviewLiving on the Edge of Possibility: Ethical Issues in the Care of Critically Ill Patients in Resource-Limited Settings.
The birth, expansion, and sustenance of critical care medicine as a specialty have often presented ethical challenges and dilemmas to health care workers in diverse settings. In addition to critical services being provided at the extreme end of a disease process, they are often in limited supply. The authors present patterns of inception and development of this crucial service as they have witnessed in rural Africa. Furthermore, they present the ethical challenges, both typical and unique, as they have experienced them in a tertiary referral center in Kenya.
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Critical care clinics · Oct 2022
ReviewFocused Cardiac Ultrasound Training for Non-cardiologists: An Overview and Recommendations for a Lower Middle-Income Country.
Poor outcomes among the critically ill in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have been attributed in part to the challenge of diagnostic delays caused by lack of skilled personnel. Focused cardiac ultrasound (FoCUS) by non-cardiologists may mitigate the shortage of echocardiography experts to perform emergency echocardiography at the point of care in these settings. It is however crucial that FoCUS training for non-cardiologists in LMICs be based on robust evidence to support training delivery if diagnostic accuracy is to be assured.