Southern medical journal
-
Technologic advances in the past ten years, coupled with the advent of a new specialty of critical care medicine, have made it possible for patients to survive major surgical procedures and critical illnesses which, ten years ago, would have resulted in certain death. In 1979, a group of emergency physicians, with training and experience in critical care medicine, initiated a program of critical care at Cedars of Lebanon Health Care Center, a private nonprofit hospital. ⋯ Since its implementation, critical care procedures and aggressive therapy are provided around the clock. We believe that such coverage is essential and suggest that, just as the emergency department became fully staffed ten years ago, in the future, most intensive care units of private hospitals of 300 beds or more will be covered by intensivists working around the clock to provide care at the time it is needed.
-
Southern medical journal · Jun 1982
Pediatric transfusion: considerations by age and blood component.
Transfusion in the pediatric age group requires careful consideration of the patient's weight and age because of potential problems with intravascular volume and difficulty with administration of the blood product. Different age groups have varied disease processes that require specific blood components. A correct diagnosis is essential for their proper choice and use. ⋯ Bone marrow transplantation and apheresis are new therapeutic modalities available through immunohematology-hemotherapy units. Adverse reactions to blood components include immediate and delayed types. The choice of a blood component should be related to clinical need, with overall concern for benefit-to-risk potential for the pediatric patient.
-
Southern medical journal · Apr 1982
ReviewSaturday Conference: stuporous alcoholics: metabolic considerations.
Alcoholics are predisposed to certain metabolic disorders that cause stupor and coma. These entities include acute ethanol intoxication, ethanol-induced hypoglycemia, alcoholic ketoacidosis, ethylene glycol and methanol intoxications, thiamine deficiency, and hepatic encephalopathy. The recognition and management of these entities and the evaluation of stuporous alcoholics are discussed.