Evidence-based practice of critical care

Preface: Is hypothermia useful to prevent brain injury after cardiac arrest? In other settings? -- Has evidence-based medicine changed the practice of critical care? -- Do protocols/guidelines actually improve outcomes? -- What happens to critically ill patients after they leave the ICU? -- What can be done to enhance recognition of the post-ICU syndrome (PICS)? What can be done to prevent it? What can be done to treat it? -- How have genomics informed our understanding of critical illness? -- Is oxygen toxic? -- What is the role of noninvasive respiratory support and high-flow nasal cannula in the intensive care client? -- What is the role of PEEP and recruitment maneuvers in ARDS? -- What is the best way to wean and liberate patients from mechanical ventilation? -- How does mechanical ventilation damage lungs? What can be done to prevent it? -- How should exacerbations of COPD be managed in the intensive care unit? -- Is diaphragmatic dysfunction a major problem following mechanical ventilation? -- ARDS: Are the current definitions useful? -- What are the pathologic and pathophysiologic changes that accompany ARDS? -- What factors predispose patients to acute respiratory distress syndrome? -- What is the best mechanical ventilation strategy in ARDS? -- Is carbon dioxide harmful or helpful in ARDS? -- Does patient positioning make a difference in ARDS? -- Do inhaled vasodilators in ARDS make a difference? -- Does ECMO work? -- What lessons have we learned from epidemiologic studies of ARDS? -- What are the long-term outcomes after ARDS? -- How do I approach fever in the intensive care unit and should fever be treated? -- What fluids should be given to the critically ill patient? What fluids should be avoided? -- Should blood glucose be tightly controlled in the intensive care unit? -- Is there a role for therapeutic hypothermia in critical care? -- How do I manage the morbidly obese critically ill patient? -- How do I safely transport the critically ill patient? -- What are the causes of and how do I treat critical illness neuropathy/myopathy? -- What is sepsis? What is septic shock? What are mods and persistent critical illness? -- How do I identify the patient with ""sepsis""? -- Is there immune suppression in the critically ill patient - pro? -- Is there immune suppression in the critically ill patient--con? -- Does the timing of antibiotic administration matter in sepsis? -- What is the role of vasopressors and inotropes in septic shock? -- Does monitoring the microcirculation make a difference in sepsis? Outcome? -- Are we getting any better at diagnosing sepsis? -- Do the surviving sepsis campaign guidelines work? -- Has outcome in sepsis improved? What works? What does not? -- What happens to the autonomic nervous system in critical illness? -- Is persistent critical illness a syndrome of ongoing inflammation/immunosuppression/catabolism? --How do I optimize antibiotic use in critical illness? -- How do I identify pathologic organisms in the 21st century? -- How do I diagnose and manage catheter-related bloodstream infections? -- How do I manage central nervous system infections (meningitis/encephalitis)? -- How can biomarkers be used to differentiate between infection and non-infectious causes of inflammation? --;What is ventilator-associated pneumonia? How do I diagnose it? How do I treat it? -- What is the role of invasive hemodynamic monitoring in critical care? -- Does the use of echocardiography aid in the management of the critically ill? -- How do I manage hemodynamic decompensation in a critically ill patient? -- What are the best tools to optimize the circulation? -- How should cardiogenic shock be managed (including assist devices)? -- How do I manage acute heart failure? -- How do I diagnose and manage myocardial ischemia in the ICU? -- How do I prevent or treat atrial fibrillation in postoperative critically ill patients? -- How do I rapidly and correctly identify acute kidney injury? --What is the role of renal replacement therapy in the intensive care unit? -- What is the value of nondialytic therapy in acute kidney injury? -- How should acid-base disorders be diagnosed? -- Is hyperchloremia harmful? -- Dysnatremias--what causes them and how should they be treated? -- Why is lactate important in critical care? -- How does critical illness alter metabolism? -- How should traumatic brain injury be managed? -- How should aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage be managed? -- How should acute ischemic stroke be managed in the intensive care unit? -- How should status epilepticus be managed? -- When and how should I feed the critically ill patient? -- What does critical illness do to the liver? -- How do I manage a patient with acute liver failure? -- Is there a place for anabolic hormones in critical care? -- How do I diagnose and manage acute endocrine emergencies in the ICU? -- What is the current role for corticosteroids in critical care? -- How should trauma patients be managed in the intensive care unit? -- What is abdominal compartment syndrome and how should it be managed? -- How should patients with burns be managed in the intensive care unit? -- What is the best approach to resuscitation in trauma? -- How do I diagnose and treat major gastrointestinal bleeding? -- How should the critically ill pregnant patient be managed? -- How do I diagnose and manage patients admitted to the intensive care unit after common poisonings? -- When is transfusion therapy indicated in critical illness and when is it not? -- Is there a role for granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and/or erythropoietin in critical illness? -- What anticoagulants should be used in the critically ill patient? How do I choose?-- Is there a better way to deliver optimal critical care services? -- How do critical care pharmacists contribute to team-based care? -- What is the role of advanced practice nurses and physician assistants in the ICU? -- Do the guidelines for brain death determination need to be revised? -- How do I diagnose, treat, and reduce delirium in the intensive care unit?"