Critical Care

Host: John Armstrong, MD

Guest: Maj. Colin Meghoo, MD

Maj. Dr. Colin Meghoo, a general surgeon at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, shares experiences in mass casualty management from Iraq with host Dr. John Armstrong. For care providers, a team-oriented approach is essential to expeditiously and safely treat a never-ending stream of patients, from local nationals to American service staff. Dr. Meghoo emphasizes practice drills and tested strategies toward maximizing every team member's contribution.

Host: John Armstrong, MD

Guest: Lt. Col. Alexander Niven, MD

Battlefield medicine can be boiled down to providing intensive care in intensive places. Lt. Col. Dr. Alexander Niven, director of respiratory care services and associate program director of internal medicine at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., talks with host Dr. John Armstrong about novel resuscitation techniques and infection control strategies, two fertile areas of combat care research. Additionally, Dr. Niven takes a closer look at the management of blast lung.

Host: John Armstrong, MD

Guest: Col. David Burris, MD

The history of trauma care can be followed through the history of war. With serious battlefield wounds demanding swift and immediate action, how has modern military medicine improved our ability to execute response protocol for these injuries? Col. Dr. David Burris, professor and chair of surgery at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, details measures for training and oversight of our responding medical units. Dr. John Armstrong hosts.

Host: Leslie P. Lundt, MD

Guest: Randall Friese, MD

Some complications are so common that we overlook them. The lack of sleep in the ICU is a potent example. Host Dr. Leslie Lundt welcomes Dr. Randall Friese, Assistant Professor of Surgery at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and author of a recent study on sleep in the ICU.

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD

Guest: Jam Ghajar, MD, PhD

Advances in diagnostics for traumatic brain injuries will soon allow us to evaluate these injuries immediately after they occur. With many of our troops suffering these injuries, the United States military is making a push to accelerate development of a new assessment device. Jamshid Ghajar, MD, PhD, president of the Brain Trauma Foundation, the organization working in partnership with the Defense Department, outlines this collaborative effort. Will this forthcoming diagnostic tool also be applicable in civilian circumstances? Are there certain sets of symptoms that would preclude its use?

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD

Guest: Jam Ghajar, MD, PhD

Traumatic brain injuries are a major cause for concern for our troops returning home from military conflicts abroad. The development of a new eye-tracking device, initiated and funded, in part, by the United States Department of Defense, will soon provide an immediate assessment of traumatic brain injuries. How might this device change the entire evaluation process for these injuries? When will this device be ready for use? Host Dr. Mark Nolan Hill gets the details from Jamshid Ghajar, MD, PhD, president of the Brain Trauma Foundation, the organization working in partnership with the Defense Department to develop this device.

Host: Charles Turck, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP

Guest: Brian Smith, PharmD

When attempting to control blood sugar levels in critically ill patients, how far should we go? Host Dr. Charles Turck probes this question and more with Dr. Brian Smith, director of education in clinical services of the pharmacy department of the University of Massachussetts (UMass) Memorial Medical Center and chair of the UMass Glycemic Control Task Force. Dr. Smith examines current evidence supporting tight glucose monitoring in an intensive care setting.

Host: Charles Turck, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP

Guest: Brian Smith, PharmD

Hyperglycemia and the critically ill: how can we best keep our patients' blood sugars under control? What are the major clinical considerations and administrative needs underlying this important issue? Critical care pharmacy specialist Dr. Brian Smith speaks with host Dr. Charles Turck about how to best control blood glucose settings both during and after intensive care.

Host: Larry Kaskel, MD

Guest: Timothy Henry, MD

Not all hospitals are equipped with staff or equipment to perform percutaneous coronary intervention on an emergency basis. However, in an emergency situation, critical decisions must be made: Take a patient to the nearest medical center that can provide fibrinoloysis or take the extra time to get them to a medical center who can perform PCI. What are the current protocols in place to make this often times life/death decision? Join host, Dr. Larry Kaskel talk with Dr. Tim Henry, Director of Research at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation about his recent paper entitled, 'Design of a Standardized System For Transfer of Patients with ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.'

Host: Lee Freedman, MD

Guest: Louis Soslowsky, PhD

Dr. Soslowsky discusses how new understandings of the pathophysiology of tendon-to-bone repair are leading to a new therapeutic approach to rotator cuff tears.