Critical Care Medicine in District of Columbia

Critical condition - an extreme degree of any, including iatrogenic pathology, which requires replacement of artificial or support vital functions.

 Critical care medicine (ISS) - a division of Health, the objects of attention are ill patients in critically state, or the threat of its development. The ISS include resuscitation, anesthesiology, emergency (emergency) care, intensive therapy.

For all sections of the ISS following singularities are characteristic:

• Extreme situations;
• Lack of psychological contact with the patient;
• The presence of multiple organ failure in a patient;
• Technicism;
• Invasive methods of diagnosis and treatment, the phenomenon of double whammy;
• Iatrogenesis, associated with the essence of the critical state, the imperfection of medicine, invasive diagnostic and treatment methods;
• Interdisciplinarity of pathology, which has reached the critical state.

From the moment of the onset of the critical state is required uniformly serial or parallel replacement of the vital functions of the patient as long as they do not will recover to the extent that the compensatory mechanisms (autoregulation functions) will work again.

Excretion of of the critical state the patients is carried out through a series of events that actually make up the intensive care unit (recovery). It includes mechanical ventilation, cardiopulmonary bypass and antiischemic protection of the cerebral cortex.

Extracorporeal circulation is carried out in the event of termination of cardiac activity, regardless of its cause. For this performed chest compressions.

Before performing artificial ventilation easy provides passableness of upper respiratory tract. At their filling with liquid contents is lowered head end or turn resuscitated in side, open his mouth, remove mucus, vomit, and then wipe the mouth.

In the hospital artificial respiration is maintained by the apparatus. For this to patient is inserted the endotracheal tube into the respiratory tract through the mouth or nose (intubated), then connect  the respirator to a tube.