Intensive Medicine– evidence-based interventions

Abstract

In the whole world, the number of critically ill patients admitted tointensive care units requiring complex interventions is growingday by day. The present article reviews some of these procedures.The majority here reviewed is related to, direct or indirectly, tosepsis though they are also practiced in critically ill patients ingeneral. One of these therapeutic interventions of great impact isthe volemic resuscitation using non invasive techniques that alsodiminish the patient’s risks. Other strategies are related topulmonary protection and alveolar recruitment; the maintenanceof a rigorous control of the glicemia because its low cost associatedto the use of intravenous insulin allow this intervention to bepracticed in any intensive care unit; the utilization of activated Cprotein; the kidney substitution in critically ill patients; and finallythe use of hypothermia in patients after cardiac arrest.

Keywords

• Intensive care units
• Evidence-based medicine
• Intensive care
• Sepsis