If anyone has read the pulm-ccm blog, they will recognize the signature “JE”. He is the physician who write their ICU Physiology series, if anyone is interested in the WHY and not just the WHAT, these are fantastic reads.

He has started a physiology website with a fantastic series of learning modules designed to make you understand all the data coming at you in the ICU.

These are REALLY COOL. Take the time this week to go through them. One module a day keeps the COVID away.

Objectives:

• Explain the difference between volume status and volume responsiveness.

• Critique the use of the central venous pressure [CVP] as a marker of volume status and volume responsiveness.

Objectives:

• Explain the determinants of inspiratory IVC collapse and how this relates to the central venous pressure

• Critique the use of IVC collapse as a marker of volume status and volume responsiveness

• Hypothesize how common interventions in the ICU affect the physiology of IVC collapse with specific focus on a patient’s inspiratory effort and the application of PEEP.

Objectives:

• Understand the conditions under which the inferior vena cava [IVC] will dilate in response to a mechanical breath; explain the reasoning as a clinical physiologist.

• Hypothesize why IVC dilation will vary as a function of tidal volume.

• Hypothesize why IVC dilation will vary as a function of chest wall compliance.