Intensive care unit

An intensive care unit is specially designed to provide medical care and nursing to patients whose medical condition is or could become life-threatening. These include accident victims with serious injuries, patients who have recently undergone surgery and patients with acute illnesses such as stroke, sepsis, pulmonary embolism or with organ failure. Physicians who care for … Intensive care unit

Monitoring

Introduction Monitoring refers to the monitoring of various circulatory parameters and physiological functions of a patient during an operation. Typically, the physician in charge is an anesthesiologist. Depending on the type of surgery, there are different forms of monitoring, which can be extended by certain elements as required. In the following, the basic monitoring, i.e. … Monitoring

Oxygen saturation (SpO2) | Monitoring

Oxygen saturation (SpO2) To monitor the oxygen content of the blood, the patient is usually fitted with a special clamp (pulse oximeter) on one finger of one hand. This clamp emits red light of different wavelengths. Since the blood absorbs different wavelengths depending on oxygen saturation, the device can determine a saturation value from this. … Oxygen saturation (SpO2) | Monitoring

Temperature measurement | Monitoring

Temperature measurement The measurement of body temperature is also an important part of the monitoring.Typically, the measurement is made in the nasopharynx or in the esophagus. This is important because the body can cool down quickly during anesthesia, as anesthetics adjust the set point of the body temperature. This also explains the frequently observed cold … Temperature measurement | Monitoring

Extended monitoring | Monitoring

Extended monitoring The extension of the basic monitoring may be indicated for certain procedures and patients. This is especially true for patients with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases or patients requiring intensive care. The EEG records the brain waves. This provides information on the depth of anaesthesia and the blood flow in the brain. The EEG is … Extended monitoring | Monitoring

Cardiac arrest

Definition If there is no circulation of blood in the vessels of the affected person due to a missing (or non-productive) heart action, this is called a (cardiac) arrest. Introduction In emergency medicine, cardiac arrest represents an acutely life-threatening condition. The partially congruent use of the term “clinical death” is misleading in that a cardiac … Cardiac arrest

Diagnosis | Cardiac arrest

Diagnosis Cardiovascular arrest triggers a series of distinctive physical changes. Logically, when the heart is not pumping, no more pulses can be felt. This happens especially in large arteries such as the carotid artery (Arteria carotis) and the femoral artery (Arteria femoralis) in the groin. A few seconds later unconsciousness usually occurs, followed by gasping … Diagnosis | Cardiac arrest

Prognosis | Cardiac arrest

Prognosis The most important prognostic factor is how quickly after the onset of cardiac arrest resuscitation measures are started, which is often the responsibility of medical laypersons who happen to be present at the situation or find the patient unconscious and pulseless, and should then intervene boldly, but in practice this is often omitted for … Prognosis | Cardiac arrest

Central venous catheter

Definition A central venous catheter, or ZVK for short, is a thin tube that is advanced through a large vein to just before the heart. The other end is free outside the body and usually consists of several accesses. These can be used to administer fluids (infusions) and medications on the one hand and to … Central venous catheter