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Intensive Care Medicine guides
18 plain-English, evidence-linked guides in Intensive Care Medicine, with clinical review status shown on each page.
Breathing machine (ventilator) (Mechanical ventilation / breathing support)What it means when someone in intensive care is helped to breathe by a ventilator (breathing machine) through a tube, why it is needed, and how they are gradually weaned off it.Central line and arterial line insertion (Central venous catheter and arterial cannula insertion)A plain-English guide for patients and families explaining the fine tubes placed into a vein and an artery in intensive care, used to give medicines, monitor blood pressure and take blood without repeated needles.Critical care after major surgery (Postoperative critical care (ICU/HDU))Close, round-the-clock hospital care in an intensive care or high dependency unit to support someone's body while they recover from a big operation.Critical care after major trauma (Critical care management of major trauma (serious injury))A compassionate, plain-English guide for families explaining what happens when someone is in intensive care after a serious injury (major trauma), how the body is supported, and what the long road to recovery may look like.Critical care after surgery (Post-operative critical care)What it means to recover in a critical care unit (ICU or HDU) for the first hours or days after a major operation, and why this is often planned in advance.Critical care outreach review (Critical care outreach team assessment)A bedside check by a specialist critical care nurse or doctor on a hospital ward, to spot and act early if a patient is becoming more unwell.End-of-life and palliative critical care (End-of-life and palliative care in intensive care)Compassionate care that focuses on comfort, dignity and family when intensive treatment is no longer helping someone who is very unwell or dying.High-dependency care (HDU) (High-dependency unit (HDU) care)What a high-dependency unit (HDU) is, why someone may need this close level of monitoring, and how it sits between a normal ward and full intensive care.Intensive care (ICU) (Intensive care (ICU) admission and management)What happens when someone is looked after in an intensive care unit (ICU), why it is needed, what the machines do, and what recovery can be like.Kidney support (dialysis) in intensive care (Renal replacement therapy (dialysis / haemofiltration) in critical care)A plain-English guide for families explaining how a filtering machine temporarily does the work of the kidneys in intensive care when they suddenly stop working, and what recovery may look like.Mask breathing support (CPAP / BiPAP) (Non-invasive ventilation (CPAP / BiPAP))What it means to be given breathing support through a tight-fitting mask (CPAP or BiPAP) in hospital, why it is used, and how it differs from a breathing machine with a tube.Multi-organ support in intensive care (Multi-organ support (critical care organ support))A plain-English guide for families explaining how intensive care machines and medicines temporarily take over for the lungs, heart, kidneys and other organs while a very ill person is given time to recover.Nutritional support in critical illness (Clinical nutrition support in critical care (enteral and parenteral nutrition))Ways of giving a very unwell person the energy, protein and nutrients they need — usually through a feeding tube or a drip — when they cannot eat normally.Post-ICU rehabilitation and follow-up (Rehabilitation and follow-up after critical illness)Support to help someone rebuild their strength, thinking and confidence after a serious illness in intensive care, where recovery often takes months.Sedation and pain control in ICU (Sedation and analgesia in intensive care)How the intensive care team keeps a very unwell person comfortable, free of pain and able to tolerate treatment such as a breathing machine, using carefully adjusted medicines.Sepsis treatment (Sepsis management)What sepsis is, why it is a medical emergency, how it is treated urgently in hospital, and the red-flag signs that mean you should call 999.Tracheostomy care in intensive care (Tracheostomy (surgical or percutaneous) and its care in critical care)A plain-English guide for patients and families explaining a tracheostomy — a tube placed through the front of the neck into the windpipe — why it is used in intensive care, how people communicate with one, and how it is weaned and removed.Treatment of breathing (respiratory) failure in intensive care (Management of respiratory failure (including ARDS) in critical care)A plain-English guide for patients and families explaining how intensive care supports the lungs when breathing fails — from oxygen and masks to a ventilator — and what recovery may look like.
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