More than 600,000 patients in North America sustain sudden cardiac arrest each year. When return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is achieved, there are a number of critical interventions to consider in order to provide the patient with the best chance of being discharged with meaningful neurologic survival. In this podcast, we discuss an excellent recent review article on the management of patients with ROSC following cardiac arrest.

Emergency physicians intubate critically ill patients daily. Unfortunately, up to 17% of ED intubations can be complicated by peri-intubation hypoxemia, hypotension, and cardiac arrest. Efforts to optimize patient's physiology prior to rapid sequence intubation are critical in mitigating the risk of potentially disastrous peri-intubation complications. In this podcast, we discuss a recent Clinical Policy from the American College of Emergency Physicians that addresses critical issues in the management of adult ED patients undergoing endotracheal intubation.

Critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation require analgesia and sedation. At present, propofol remains the most widely used sedative for intubated/ventilated patients. Recent trials have suggested that dexmedetomidine may reduce delirium and the duration of mechanical ventilation compared with other sedative medications. In fact, recent SCCM guidelines suggest the use of dexmedetomidine over propofol in intubated patients. In this podcast, we discuss a recent randomized trial that compared the effectiveness and safety of a dexmedetomidine-based sedation strategy with a propofol-based sedation strategy in mechanically ventilated critically ill patients.