Heart failure is a condition that we, as nurses, see all the time. This is an amazing animated video about how the body both hurts and helps itself using its compensatory mechanisms for heart failure. It's a good watch and only a couple minutes long!
In my medical ICU, the vast majority of patients are in septic shock because of some type of infection. Have you ever had a patient's family ask you about sepsis? "Why is my family member's blood pressure so low?" Is there any easy way to explain this to them or do you just say, "their body is reacting abnormally to a widespread infection?"
Have you heard the term "ARDS" before? These patients are the sickest of the sick! Here is a guest post that I put together for the "New Nurse Blog" a little bit ago. I feel like it's pretty informative about ARDS including its causes and treatments. Enjoy!
