Guideline Updates in 2025: The Year in Critical Care
Part 7 of the wrap
Why don't oncologists refer to palliative care?
"Should palliative care concurrent with oncology care be standard practice?
A "perfect" test to predict (bad) outcomes after cardiac arrest?
When a person survives a cardiac arrest but doesn’t wake up for days, families need to make wrenching decisions to either continue or withdraw life-sustaining therapies.
Guideline review: Transfusing fresh frozen plasma and platelets in critical illness
Coagulation abnormalities (e.g., an elevated international normalized ratio or INR) and thrombocytopenia are present in most severely ill patients.
Platelet Transfusion 2025 Guideline Update (Critical care, AABB, ITCMG)
A second 2025 professional guideline document advises a restrictive transfusion strategy for most patients with thrombocytopenia.
Sedation and Analgesia Guideline Update: Dex vs Propofol
Virtually all critically ill patients experience pain, anxiety, sleep disturbance, agitation, or a combination of these bothersome symptoms. Relieving these burdens should be considered a fundamental aspect of caring for the most seriously ill.
Sedation, Analgesia, and Sleep Guideline Update: Melatonin
Normal sleep patterns aren’t just altered in critically ill, mechanically ventilated patients—often, they’re virtually wiped out by the use of heavy sedatives around the clock.
Are you treating the patient, or their family?
Let’s start with something we can all agree on: families are good.