Introduction: Meet the Educators

Welcome

Welcome to the Introduction to Critical Care Medicine course. We are excited to take you through the next three weeks. We aim to provide an introduction to the subject and give you a flavour of the key principles of Critical Care Medicine.

Throughout the course you are invited to read articles, watch videos and listen to an audio recording to illustrate the key learning points from each week. In the last week you will hear from one of our own patients about their experience in Critical Care.

Three weeks, three cases, three pathologies:

Each week we will follow a different patient with a different problem.

This week we will introduce you to the concept of Critical illness and what it means. You will also meet our first patient, who has some trouble breathing. The articles will take you through the case making you think and learn about what might be causing this. You will also look at where in the hospital the patient is best managed, whether that is in the ward or in a Critical Care environment.

Week 2 will continue with a case based theme. Here you will meet our second patient, who has sustained trauma. During this week you will learn how and why we triage patients. You can then try this for yourself by taking part in one of our polls. Following the patient journey, you will then learn about some of the complications of trauma, including major haemorrhage, renal failure and the need for Critical Care.

Week 3 will introduce you to our third and final patient, who is quickly diagnosed with sepsis. Here you will learn the definitions of sepsis and how they have changed, how we treat sepsis and why mortality is still high, despite our best efforts. You will also learn about the extra support which can be provided for patients like this in a Critical Care unit, rather than on a ward.

Take a moment to watch the video featuring Dr Malcolm Sim, Dr Mo Al-Haddad and Dr Michelle Clarkson. Dr Sim and Dr Al-Haddad are Consultants in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine, whilst Dr Clarkson is a Clinical Teaching Fellow in Critical Care at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. Click the links below to find out more about them.

And finally…

What do you think Critical Care is? What sort of patients do you think we treat in our Critical Care Unit? Have a think about how you would answer these questions and discuss your answers with your peers below. You could also take this opportunity to introduce yourself to other people on the course.

If you are unclear about any definitions during the course, please refer to our glossary, which you can download using the link below.