In this episode of PicPod we speak to David Inwald, the Chief Investigator of the Pressure Study. This landmark study is looking in to blood pressure targets, randomising critically ill children to normal care, or the 5th centile population blood pressure norm. We discuss the study, its rationale, and what Read more
How many times have we discussed fluid balance on a ward round? What is our fluid goal? And why? Offloading fluid is a “good thing”, but why? And when? What does the evidence say: what balance should we be aiming at, and when? Does the evidence actually give a message Read more
Liz Whittaker, consultant in Infectious diseases at St Mary’s Hospital in London, talks to us about Group A Strep in children. Over the past month or so the UK has had a huge surge in invasive Group A Streptococcal infection in children. Trainees up and down the country have rapidly Read more
We all “know” of the clear respiratory support escalator: air, oxygen, CPAP, BiPAP, Invasive ventilation. But where does High Flow fit in? What parameters should we use to determine when and how to use it? Ram from Imperial/St Mary’s in London led the two-armed First ABC trial, the largest and Read more
Without statistics, studies are just words. We need some way of translating data in to messages. More and more we read about studies which are using the mysterious Bayesian approach. How does this compare to the standard “frequentist” approach? What are the differences in data collection, analysis, messaging, and interpretation? Read more
Everyone has now heard of Cytokine Storms. It’s the thing with Covid: and why Covid was so severe in so many patients. However, what is a cytokine storm? What are the “good” cytokines, and what are the “bad” ones? How do we differentiate, and what can we do about it? Read more
Our second podcast linked to the 2022 PCCS Conference in Leicester, September 2022, with Mike Farquhar, sleep consultant at Evelina Children’s Hospital, and Sapna Kudchadkar from Johns Hopkins. This podcast went live at the time of Mike’s talk at the conference. Take a walk around a paediatric intensive care unit. Read more
Big Data. Artificial Intelligence. Machine Learning. All very 2022, all very trendy. But how can this help our practice in Paediatric Intensive Care? Heather Duncan, consultant intensivist in Birmingham, has been working for many years with AI and Machine Learning, including input from the MacLaren F1 team. What is Big Read more
Coming this September: a proper face to face conference IS BACK! The 2022 Paediatric Critical Care Society Conference, held in Leicester on the 14-16th September 2022, will be packed full of mind-expanding workshops, cross cutting plenary topics, and focussed sessions on a breadth of PCC issues for all members of Read more
Severe TBI is a difficult, frustrating condition to treat. The secondary injury process occurs despite our best efforts: and our monitoring tools are incredibly blunt. Physiological parameters change when it’s too late: ICP is a localised and at times unreliable measure. CPP is two steps away from cerebral blood flow. Read more