Critical care medicine
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A detailed report on the activities of a major Australasian ICU is presented. An adequate team of specially trained medical and nursing staff is required to function efficiently. ⋯ Practice of Intensive Care Medicine must not be confined solely to special units. Involvement in other hospital areas is described.
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Critical care medicine · May 1977
Educational objectives for house staff in the pediatric intensive care unit.
The educational objectives in use in our Pediatric ICU are described. These have importance for educational programs in critical care medicine, in particular, where patient care needs can easily overwhelm educational needs. It is important not to overlook our role as teachers in the development of proper attitudes and of the more complex areas of thought; skills and rote memory should not be overstressed.
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Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation (IMV) provides an alternative method of support to assisted and controlled mechanical ventilation in neonates with acute respiratory failure. Specific advantages include the use of only the level of mechanical support which is required on an individual basis. ⋯ Physiological homeostasis in terms of acid-base changes is more readily maintained as a result of precise regulation of alveolar ventilation. Newer concepts in mechanical support, such as "reversed" inspiratory:expiratory ratio (I:E ratio) ventilation, are possible with IMV because of the lower ventilator rates employed compared to IPPV.
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Critical care medicine · Nov 1976
Case ReportsTherapy of unilateral pulmonary insufficiency with a double lumen endotracheal tube.
Successful therapy of unilateral acute lung disease has been infrequent. The marked compliance difference that exists between the acutely diseased and normal lung may make conventional respiratory therapy ineffective in treating the diseased lung. ⋯ The use of the double lumen endotracheal tube, Carlens tube, and the application of differential ventilation was a safe and effective modality of therapy when conventional measures failed. The method of ventilation and the patient's course are described.