Looking Ahead at the Issues in Critical Care Medicine
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What are the issues that will challenge critical care practitioners in the next year? Should elevated temperatures in sepsis patients be treated? Is bispectral index monitoring a valuable tool in the intensive care unit (ICU)? What are the challenges in staffing US ICUs? These and many other questions will be discussed February 20-25, 2004, in Orlando, Florida, at the 33rd Annual Critical Care Congress of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. To register or to view the preliminary program, click here.

In 2004, we have quite a few conferences to cover for Medscape Critical Care, with the next one being the 24th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, which takes place March 30-April 2, 2004, in Brussels, Belgium. Do not forget to register early.

In the meantime, if you are looking for some of the latest clinical information, we have a number of programs for you to look at. We have CME conference coverage from Chest 2003: 69th Annual Meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians. There are also a number of other programs that you can choose from, including the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2003, the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine 16th Annual Congress, and the 43rd Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

If you are looking for a few more CME credits, be sure to take advantage of the other Conference Coverage that we have done this year. If you have not already done so, you can still get CME/CE credit for the 23rd International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, 13th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, and Coverage of the 99th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society.

If you wish to find out about other critical care meetings, look at our Conference Calendar listings in the Conference Center section of the Critical Care site.

If you are looking for additional educational activities on Medscape Critical Care, we have a Clinical Update on "Improving ICU Survival in Cases of Severe Sepsis Using Drotrecogin Alfa (Activated)," one on "Effect of a Catabolic State With Involuntary Weight Loss on Acute and Chronic Respiratory Disease," and one entitled: "Therapeutic Potential of PDE4 Inhibitors in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease." You can also view the Web telecast: "SARS: Here Today, Here Tomorrow" and get educational credit as well. Click here to get a complete listing of the Clinical Updates on Medscape Critical Care.

We have just posted a new CME Circle program entitled: "Update on Fungal Disease 2003." Remember to take a look at our other CME Circle articles, including one entitled: "Therapeutic Challenges in the Management of Nosocomial Pneumonia," one on "Preventing Health-Care--Associated Infections Caused by Staphylococcus aureus," and another on "The Role of Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Inhibitors in the Era of Drug-Eluting Stents and Brachytherapy." Click here to get a complete listing of CME Circle programs.

We have quite a few News CME articles posted on the site. We have a new item entitled: "Unsuspected Airway Obstruction Common in General Medical Service." We also have other News CME items entitled: "Vasopressin Superior to Epinephrine for Asystole; Similar for V-Fib, Pulseless Electrical Activity," "Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension Often Misdiagnosed," "New Guidelines for Restraint Use in ICU," and "Warfarin Safe, Effective for Thrombosis Prophylaxis in Children." To earn credit, read the news article and take the posttest.

Our latest Ask the Expert questions concern "Vasopressors for Patients With Septic Shock and Cardiomyopathy," "Use of Low Doses of Dopamine in Renal Failure," and "Proper Use of IV Inotropes for Hypotension." Click here to view all of the General Critical Care Ask the Experts content.

If you are a physician and wish to ask a question on any topic in critical care, go to the Medscape Critical Care homepage, scroll down to the "Ask the Experts" section, and select the "Submit a Question" link for the appropriate topic or click here for a directory page of Medscape Critical Care ATEs.

In addition, we offer a number of specialized topic areas, known as Resource Centers, that focus on specific areas of research. The Sepsis Resource Center is one such area. We also have one devoted to Chronic Kidney Disease and another on Disaster and Trauma. Be sure to visit these and other Resource Centers.

We have a number of new postings from our Publishers' Circle partners. From Critical Care, we have recently posted articles entitled: "Early Decompressive Craniectomy and Duraplasty for Refractory Intracranial Hypertension in Children: Results of a Pilot Study." From American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, we have an article on "Improving Medication Safety in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit." From American Heart Journal, we have an article on "Cost of Care Distribution in Atrial Fibrillation Patients: The COCAF Study." From the journal Neurosurgical Focus, we have an article entitled: "What is the Optimal Threshold for Cerebral Perfusion Pressure Following Traumatic Brain Injury?"

The Critical Care Journal Scan continues to provide a monthly review of interesting and topical journal articles from specialty and general interest journals. To get a quick look at what has been published recently in the field, take a look at the latest Critical Care Journal Scan. The current Critical Care Journal Scan provides a review of articles on daily sedative interruption in the critically ill, nosocomial pneumonia in the ICU, vasopressin and gastric perfusion in sepsis, and nosocomial infections and noninvasive ventilation.

Remember to visit the Medscape Critical Care Discussion Boards section where you can go to read your colleagues' opinions on a number of topics as well as expressing your own. One recent discussion concerns a "Female With Cyanosis, Hypotension, and Hypoglycemia" and another discusses "Proper Use of IV Inotropes for Hypotension." You can respond to these discussions or start a discussion of your own.

The Medscape Critical Care site has posted a number of MEDLINE abstract collections that cover the latest studies on specific topics. The most current topics include trauma survival, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, MRI of abdominal aortic aneurysm, acute respiratory distress syndrome, drotrecogin alfa (recombinant human activated protein C) for the treatment of sepsis, and severe sepsis.

If you are a physician and would like to submit an interesting critical care-related case study that illustrates how you solved a vexing clinical problem, send it to me at Criticalcareeditor@webmd.net. The cases will be presented in an interactive format that links into the discussion section of the site as well, allowing users to comment on the cases.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about what you see on the site or wish to suggest a new program that you would find useful, please feel free to email me at Criticalcareeditor@webmd.net. If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please contact our customer support staff at Medscapecustomersupport@webmd.net.