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To establish evidence-based guidelines for the use of bedside ultrasound by intensivists and specialists in the ICU and equivalent care sites for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes for organs of the chest, abdomen, pelvis, neck, and extremities.

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These new national guidelines from the Difficult Airway Society and Obstetric Anaesthetists' Association aim to provide a consistent framework for providing safe obstetric general anaesthesia and the management of unanticipated difficult tracheal intubation, failed tracheal intubation and the ‘can't intubate, can't oxygenate’ (CICO) situation. Discussion of management after failed intubation covers the different actions to be taken should the anaesthetist decide to wake the patient or proceed with general anaesthesia. The difficulty in making this decision is acknowledged by including criteria that aim to aid selection of the most appropriate option in the light of the differing circumstances of each particular case.

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This particular report is an update and expansion of guidelines published by A.S.P.E.N. and SCCM in 2009. The guidelines offer basic recommendations that are supported by review and analysis of the current literature, other national and international guidelines, and a blend of expert opinion and clinical practicality. The population of critically ill patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) is not homogeneous.

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One of the challenges with producing a document such as GPICS can be the lack of a hard evidence base for some of the standards and recommendations that may be, by necessity, based on professional opinion and established practice. It is therefore essential that standards and recommendations are subject to regular review and revision, as new evidence becomes available and practice changes. In undertaking this significant review and revision to GPICS, the FICM and ICS consulted widely, both with the key stakeholder organisations and through an open public survey. One of the criticisms of the first edition was the underrepresentation of authors from smaller units and the devolved nations; we have addressed this in the second edition, recognising that the majority of critical care is not delivered in large tertiary centres.

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Successful return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is the first step towards the goal of complete recovery from cardiac arrest. The complex pathophysiological processes that occur following whole body ischaemia during cardiac arrest and the subsequent reperfusion response during CPR and following successful resuscitation have been termed the post-cardiac arrest syndrome.4 Depending on the cause of the arrest, and the severity of the post-cardiac arrest syndrome, many patients will require multiple organ support and the treatment they receive during this post-resuscitation period influences significantly the overall outcome and particularly the quality of neurological recovery. The post-resuscitation phase starts at the location where ROSC is achieved but, once stabilised, the patient is transferred to the most appropriate high-care area (e.g. emergency room, cardiac catheterisation laboratory or intensive care unit (ICU) for continued diagnosis, monitoring and treatment. The post-resuscitation care algorithm (Figure 1) outlines some of the key interventions required to optimise outcome for these patients.

Of those comatose patients admitted to ICUs after cardiac arrest, as many as 40–50% survive to be discharged from hospital depending on the cause of arrest, system and quality of care. Of the patients who survive to hospital discharge, the vast majority have a good neurological outcome although many have subtle cognitive impairment.

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Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed she’s still suffering the effects of coronavirus after saying she battled the illness ‘early on’ in the pandemic. The actress detailed the lingering symptoms she’s still facing, which many refer to as ‘long Covid’ – a casual term being used to describe those whose symptoms go on for longer than the officially recognised two-week symptom period.

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned the 'many thousands of people suffering from long Covid' highlights how the virus does not just prey on the elderly.

As many as 60,000 people of all ages in the UK are thought to be suffering from long-lasting effects of coronavirus, which linger after the original illness has cleared up.

Speaking at the Downing Street briefing this evening, Mr Hancock said it demonstrated how the 'virus can strike us all, and we must all do our bit to strike back.'

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METRO DETROIT — Recovering from COVID-19 can be a long process, and health care officials are seeing a new need to support people through it.

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The Minister of Public Health, Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, visited the Post-Covid Inpatient Unit established in the Qatar Rehabilitation Institute (QRI) to offer a holistic programme to patients with more severe Covid-19 symptoms to help in their recovery.
She visited two patients currently receiving care in QRI following episodes of severe Covid-19. In each case the prolonged illness and severity of symptoms has led to the patients experiencing reduced lung capacity and muscle atrophy resulting in decreased endurance.

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Advances in critical care medicine have improved patients’ survival rate. However, physical and cognitive sequels after Intensive Care Unit (ICU) discharge remain substantial. Our objectives were to evaluate the Health-related Quality of Life (HRQL) at 6-month after ICU discharge and identify the risk factors of this outcomes.

Brief description of media:

Our study objective was to assess health-related quality of life in survivors of acute lung injury (ALI) and to supplement generic and disease-specific questionnaires with findings from a focus group of ALI survivors. Six patients participated in the focus group, which revealed patient concerns with amnesia, depressed mood, avoidance behaviors, and a prolonged recovery period. Using a cross-sectional study design, 24 patients completed a questionnaire 6 to 41 mo after their lung injury. A total of 43% of the patients with ALI met criteria for depression; 43% had self-reported significant functional limitations, although 39% had minimal or no limitations. Significant respiratory and psychologic symptoms were reported in a quarter to a third of patients. There were large decrements in all domains of the SF-36 (a generic health-related quality-of-life instrument) in our sample compared with norms previously established for the general population. In addition, our patients had similar physical difficulties compared with previously studied patients with chronic medical illnesses but had more deficits in the social functioning and mental health domains. We conclude that long after lung injury, survivors have significantly lower health-related quality of life than the general population and are likely to have pulmonary and psychologic symptoms.

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It’s called post-intensive care unit syndrome, or PICU and prior to the pandemic, many of us may never have heard of it. But patients who survive an extended stay in an intensive care unit on a ventilator may have a number of unique health challenges to overcome.