Written in a straightforward, readable, and highly informative style, Navigating the ICU: A Guide for Patients and Families is a compact, affordable guide to today’s intensive care unit. This unique, patient-focused handbook is designed to help patients and their families navigate the complexities of the ICU—from the role of each member of staff, to common procedures, medications, and laboratory tests, to what to expect after the hospital stay. Author and ICU nurse Alex Gottsch concisely explains the ICU experience and provides accessible answers to common questions asked by patients and families.
ICU events are not uncommon but knowing what to do when a loved one is placed there is. This work explores the ICU with an eye toward guiding families to getting the best care for their beloved patient Intensive care will touch almost all of us at some point – whether directly, or through our families and or friends. This book is for every family of patients in the ICU, who have suddenly entered an intimidating and alien world, in which they feel powerless and out of control. In simple, direct language, Lara Goitein, MD, gives clear explanations of all aspects of intensive care – what all those lines and tubes are; common conditions such as sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS); physical changes in patients and what they mean; common procedures and their risks and benefits; and the people and the culture of the ICU. One full section of the book is devoted to Covid-19-specific issues. In addition, the book provides concrete advice for how family members can be effective advocates on behalf of their loved ones –what to know before giving consent for procedures, how to interact with ICU staff, how to help the ICU team guard against common complications of ICU care, and how to approach important decisions about end-of-life care. Along the way, the author gently reminds of us of what, in the end, matters most in the ICU. For readers who may be distracted and exhausted, this is a clear, accessible guide with concrete recommendations for getting the best care and asking the right questions along the way. A compassionate resource in a time of extreme stress, this book offers support to anyone touched by an ICU stay.
A fundamental and respected resource book in critical care, The ICU Book, Fourth Edition, continues to provide the current and practical guidance that have made it the best-selling text in critical care. The text addresses both the medical and surgical aspects of critical care, delivering the guidance needed to ensure sound, safe, and effective treatment for patients in intensive care—regardless of the specialty focus of the unit. This version does not include the updates and other functionality included in the tablet version that accompanies the print edition.
"There is no night in the ICU. There is day, lesser day, then day again. There are rhythms. Every twelve hours: shift change. Report: first all together in the big room, then at the bedside, nurse to nurse. Morning rounds. A group of doctors moves slowly through the unit like a harrow through a field. At each room, like a game, a different one rotates into the center. They leave behind a trail of new orders. Wean, extubate, titrate, start this, stop that, scan, film, scope. The steep hill the patient is asked to climb. Can you breathe on your own? Can you wake up? Can you live?"—Where Night Is Day Where Night Is Day is a nonfiction narrative grounded in the day-by-day, hour-by-hour rhythms of an ICU in a teaching hospital in the heart of New Mexico. It takes place over a thirteen-week period, the time of the average rotation of residents through the ICU. It begins in September and ends at Christmas. It is the story of patients and families, suddenly faced with critical illness, who find themselves in the ICU. It describes how they navigate through it and find their way. James Kelly is a sensitive witness to the quiet courage and resourcefulness of ordinary people. Kelly leads the reader into a parallel world: the world of illness. This world, invisible but not hidden, not articulated by but known by the ill, does not readily offer itself to our understanding. In this context, Kelly reflects on the nature of medicine and nursing, on how doctors and nurses see themselves and how they see each other. Drawing on the words of medical historians, doctor-writers, and nursing scholars, Kelly examines the relationship of professional and lay observers to the meaning of illness, empathy, caring, and the silence of suffering. Kelly offers up an intimate portrait of the ICU and its inhabitants.
This best-selling resource provides a general overview and basic information for all adult intensive care units. The material is presented in a brief and quick-access format which allows for topic and exam review. It provides enough detailed and specific information to address most all questions and problems that arise in the ICU. Emphasis on fundamental principles in the text should prove useful for patient care outside the ICU as well. New chapters in this edition include hyperthermia and hypothermia syndromes; infection control in the ICU; and severe airflow obstruction. Sections have been reorganized and consolidated when appropriate to reinforce concepts.
A practical book on cardiothoracic critical care in the ICU with fundamentals of management of the the heart and lungs, and guidelines for management of medical and surgical patients in the ICU."
This book is dedicated to the fundamental clinical signs of astute observation, careful differential diagnosis and analytical therapeutic decision-making in emergency veterinary settings. It clearly defines the physiological and clinical principles fundamental to the management of the critically ill small animal patient. With clear guidelines for organizing an emergency/critical care unit, the book also discusses ethical and legal concerns. The 80 expert authors have created a clinically specific resource for the specialist, residents in training, veterinary practitioners, technicians and students.Published by Teton New Media in the USA and distributed by CRC Press outside of North America.
This text provides a concise, yet comprehensive overview of telemedicine in the ICU. The first part of the book reviews common issues faced by practitioners and hospital administrators in implementing and managing tele-ICU programs, including the merits of different staffing models, the challenges of building homegrown programs versus contracting for services, and the impact of state laws and payer policies on reimbursement for tele-ICU services. The second part of the book presents the current state of evidence for and against ICU telemedicine, based on clinical trials, before-and-after implementation studies, and observational data. The third part dives deeper into specific use cases for telemedicine in the ICU, including telestroke, pediatric and cardiac intensive care, and early treatment of declining patients with sepsis. Written by experts in the field, Telemedicine in the ICU is a practical guide for intensive care physicians and hospital administrators that provides all the information necessary in building and maintaining a successful tele-ICU program.
The intensive care unit (ICU) is a specialised hospital ward where the ‘sickest-of-the-sick’ patients, often with life-threatening illness, receive around-the-clock monitoring and life support. There is a wide spectrum of conditions managed, and these present unique challenges for those who work in this field. Written in lay language by experienced ICU doctors (Intensivists), Psychiatrists, healthcare professionals outside of medicine and other stakeholders, “Stories from ICU doctors” provides insight and commentary around the nature and management of stressors for senior doctors working in the ICU. The first five sections of the book describe the distinctive nature of the ICU environment: the human factors involved, the characteristics of thriving Intensivists, the emotions they experience, and how they behave in response. The final three sections provide a synthesis of the advice of these clinicians for both current and future Intensivists, the advice from those who surround the Intensivist both at work and at home; and some concluding remarks about trainee suitability and selection for intensive care medicine. This book is for ICU patients and their families, it is for the families of ICU doctors, it is for doctors from other specialities, it is for the nurses and others that work alongside ICU doctors, and for anyone considering a career in ICU medicine and those who care for them. We share these stories in hope that readers might better appreciate the human side of these doctors, better understand the complex working environment in which they practice, and perhaps better empathize with their stressors and struggles. Most importantly, this book is also for the ICU doctors who currently work within the specialty, to validate their feelings and experiences, and ultimately provide support by reminding them that they are not alone in navigating the difficulties they face.
