Journal of the Intensive Care Society

Point-of-care ultrasound is increasingly recognised as a valuable adjunct to patient care. Trainees in intensive care medicine are expected to accredit in focused intensive care echocardiography, but the availability of trained mentors and logistical/geographical factors make this difficult within the time constraints required. As a result, many trainees who are enthusiastic about point-of-care ultrasound find it difficult to achieve accreditation. We present a secure, web-based, multi-user system which mitigates many of these difficulties and allows for clinical mentorship to take place without geographical barriers, and at a time convenient for the participants.

Internal jugular cannulation may lead to serious complications. Ultrasound guidance is advocated; however, procedural complications remain a concern. Inconsistent education may be in part responsible for this. This study examined how internal jugular cannulation is taught and learned. An ethnographic approach was used in two acute hospitals. Methods comprised interviews, observations and focus groups. An inductive thematic analysis was undertaken. Three themes were identified: apprenticeship, trust and reciprocity. In apprenticeship, a new form of apprenticeship learning, necessitated by the structure of training is described. In trust the strategies by which trainers assess trainees’ competence in order to allow them to gain experience is explored. In reciprocity the beneficial influence of trainees is illustrated. This study demonstrates how high-stakes procedures are learned. It provides insights into under-investigated topics such as the use of ‘permitted mistakes’ to stimulate reflection and the role played by trainees in promoting good practice.

The right to liberty and security of the person is protected by Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights which has been incorporated into the Human Rights Act 1998. The 2014 Supreme Court judgment in the case commonly known as Cheshire West provided for an ‘acid test’ to be employed in establishing a deprivation of liberty. This ‘acid test’ of ‘continuous supervision and not free to leave’ led to concerns that patients lacking capacity being treated on an Intensive Care Unit could be at risk of a ‘deprivation of liberty’, if this authority was applicable to this setting. This article revisits the aftermath of Cheshire West before describing the recent legal developments around deprivation of liberty pertaining to intensive care by summarising the recent Ferreira judgments which appear for now to answer the question as to the applicability of Cheshire West in life-saving treatment.

In this article, we analyse the potential benefits and disadvantages of permitting healthcare professionals to invoke conscientious objection to deceased organ donation. There is some evidence that permitting doctors and nurses to register objections can ultimately lead to attitudinal change and acceptance of organ donation. However, while there may be grounds for conscientious objection in other cases such as abortion and euthanasia, the life-saving nature of donation and transplantation renders objection in this context more difficult to justify. In general, dialogue between healthcare professionals is a more appropriate solution, and any objections must be justified with a strong rationale in hospitals where such policies are put in place.

We present the case of a 51-year-old woman admitted to our intensive care unit following an intentional overdose of a calcium channel antagonist and a beta blocker. The resultant hypotension was reversed with glucagon, noradrenaline, calcium and high-dose insulin. Despite these interventions, she remained vasoplegic and received a delayed, standard dose of intralipid. Subsequently, the vasoplegia resolved rapidly, and the vasopressor was stopped. Here, we review the management of overdose of calcium channel and beta-adrenergic receptor blockers, concentrating on the pharmacology of lipid emulsion therapy. There remain some unanswered questions about lipid emulsion therapy: treatment with lipid therapy is usually advocated as soon as possible; this case report suggests that it remains efficacious even if its administration were delayed.

Acetic acid is an organic acid available in concentrations from 2 to 80%. Whilst lower concentrations of 2–6% are more commonly used as the table top condiment, vinegar, much stronger solutions are regularly used in Eastern Europe as food preservatives and cleaning solutions. Oral ingestion of greater than 12% has been reported to cause haemolysis, renal failure, shock and death. Most reported cases of deliberate or accidental poisoning are from Russia and Eastern Europe in the 1980s, with very little currently in western publications. We present the case of a female patient who attempted suicide by drinking 250 ml of 70% acetic acid. Her widespread gastrointestinal injuries were managed conservatively, and despite suffering extensive upper airway and renal complications, she was successfully decannulated and discharged home after a prolonged intensive care and hospital stay.

We present the case of a 26-year-old man who was brought into our emergency department in cardiorespiratory arrest, having taken Kratom 24 h previously. Despite multi-organ support, he deteriorated and died from cardiorespiratory failure and hypoxic brain damage 12 h later. Lipid emulsion was given, with significant temporary improvement in the cardiorespiratory failure. Kratom is derived from Mitragyna speciosa, a tropical deciduous and evergreen tree in the coffee family, and is native to Southeast Asia, and its leaves are used as a legal high in some parts of the world. Here, we review the pharmacochemistry of the drug, and wish to highlight that the effects of Kratom may not be as benign as are commonly reported, and the possible role of intralipid in managing the Kratom toxicity in this case.

A patient suffered significant bleeding during an attempt at percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy due to an aberrant anterior jugular vein. Bleeding was controlled with pressure temporarily, but quickly returned necessitating conversion to an open technique. We present an algorithm for the management of significant peri-procedural bleeding during this procedure.

Catecholamines are entrenched in the management of shock states. A paradigm shift has pervaded the critical care arena in recent years acknowledging their propensity to cause harm and fuel a ‘death-spiral’. We present the case of a 21-year-old male following a witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who received high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation and standard advanced life support for refractory ventricular fibrillation until return of spontaneous circulation after 70 min. Early post-admission echocardiography revealed severe diffuse sub-basal left ventricular hypertrophy with dynamic mid-cavity obstruction and akinetic apical pouching. Within this context, a decatecholaminised strategy comprising a beta-blocker was used to augment the left ventricular end-diastolic volume and attain cardiovascular stability.

We report the case of a 69-year-old man admitted to the emergency department of a UK district general hospital with an extradural haematoma following closed head injury. He deteriorated rapidly before transfer to the regional neurosurgical centre and was treated with decompression of the extradural haematoma through an EZ-IO™ intraosseous needle in our department, with telephone guidance from the neurosurgeon. We believe this to be the first reported use of this technique in a district general hospital.