Intensive care

An advance directive, or living will, is a statement of instructions regarding future treatment options, including the right to refuse treatment, in the case of incapacitating illness which renders the patient unable to make decisions.…

As well as being vital to sustaining life, food and drink have important psychological, social and cultural significance. However, elderly patients, who often have complex medical needs, may develop difficulties with eating and drinking due…

Delirium is a form of acute brain dysfunction, defined by acute disturbances in attention, awareness or cognition, that develops over hours or days and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis or comatose state. Patients…

Catheters are used almost universally in the intensive care unit (ICU) and are an essential tool in the care of critically ill patients. They allow the intravenous administration of both medication and fluid resuscitation, along…

A hospital-acquired infection (HAI) is any infection that originates from a stay in a medical facility. HAIs occur frequently and represent the most common adverse event among hospitalised patients. The highest incidence is seen in…

While complications of airway management are surprisingly common, most are minor in nature. Major complications are rare, and although they have the potential to be life-threatening, they tend to result in morbidity rather than mortality (1-4).…

Airway management techniques were first developed in the field of anaesthesia, and advanced airway management is still an extremely important factor in the care of the critically ill patient. For this reason, intensive care medicine…

The majority of people express a wish to spend their last days at home but, in reality, over half will die in hospital (1), and many of these deaths will take place in the intensive care…

Patients treated in an intensive care unit (ICU) often have complicated and life-threatening conditions, which may require treatments that are often invasive and sometimes potentially dangerous. Not surprisingly, adverse events are frequent and may lead…

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus, has had an enormous impact on healthcare systems around the world. Understandably, intensive care unit (ICU) provision has seen the most significant effects and has had to…