We were able to have a short conversation with Dr Mohammed Abed, director of the only functioning PICU in Gaza, at the Al Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. His dignity, pride, and incredible efforts in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe was incredibly humbling. He describes three cohorts of patients: Read more
PicPod 88 is all about Pertussis in Paediatric Critical Care. Malignant Pertussis is, for intensivists, one of the most terrible conditions to treat, with a dearth of evidence, and but plenty of evidence of death. For PicPod 88 we have spoken to James Cherry from UCLA. James Cherry is a Read more
We spoke to Juan Valle Ortiz from Newcastle, Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care. He is involved in the PaNGEa project (www. pangeacambridge.co.uk), and is an ESPNIC ventilation instructor. He’s also a singer! What is non invasive ventilation? Does it work? What are the thresholds for starting NIV? S/F ratios: are Read more
Major traumatic brain injury is a huge issue for Paediatric Intensive Care. We have machines for almost every organ: but the brain is on its own. Shruti Agrawal, consultant in paediatric intensive care in Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, is first author on the Starship study, recently published in the Lancet eClinical Read more
“Saving lives” is what we do. But at what cost? Are we threatening the survival of the world by our PIC practices? What’s the point of healthcare, if we are destroying the world’s future for those same children? We talked to Heather Baid, an ICU nurse and lead for sustainability Read more
Nudge nudge…. a favourite of politicians and social commentators, but how can nudge technology help us in ventilation weaning? Lisa McIlmurray has been working on a pilot study of nudge technology attached to a ventilator. How does this help to move patients on? What are the algorithms used in this Read more
Change is hard….isn’t it? We spoke to Rebecca Lawton, a professor of Psychology from the University of Leeds, who is an expert in patient safety; behaviour change; improvement science; workforce engagement and wellbeing. Why is change so difficult? Who is it most difficult for? And how do we convince individuals, Read more
First, do no harm… How much of the things we do every day are worthwhile? We all do so many interventions, but are they actually worthwhile? Some may be ineffective, some inefficient, and some may be harmful. But which is which? How do we find out whether we should, or Read more
Calum Semple is a respiratory and infectious disease professor in Liverpool. He has been part of the governmental advice team for pandemics since before COVID. We spoke to him in advance of his talk at the 2024 PCCS conference What is the frequency of pandemics? Is the 1918 Spanish Flu Read more
Nicola Disma, an anaesthetist in Genoa, Italy, is lead author on the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care guidelines on airway management in neonates and infants, published in full text here. We discussed all things airway. Video laryngoscopes: useful, mandatory, or deskilling? “Normal” video blade or hyperangulated? Oxygen during Read more