The Tasty Morsels

The tasty morsels of critical care podcast is a series of bite size chunks of knowledge targeted at fellowship exam preparation.

A searchable table of all the posts and episodes exists below.

EpisodeTopicSystemLink
001Thrombotic Thrombocytopaenic PurpuraHaem001
002Diastolic DysfunctionCardiac002
003Diabetic Ketoacidosis DKAEndo003
004Transplant drugsTransplant004
005SubmersionEnvironmental005
006ChylothoraxRespiratory006
007Pneumocystis Jirovecii PneumoniaMicro007
008Decompressive Craniectomy for StrokeNeuro008
009The ESPEN 2018 Nutrition GuidelinesNutrition009
010Cardiac disease in pregnancyObstetrics010
011Tumour Lysis SyndromeOncology011
012ICU SedationPain and sedation012
013Tracheostomy - putting it inProcedure013
014Tracheostomy – Taking it outProcedure014
015Acute Kidney InjuryRenal015
016Open Lung Biopsy for ICU patientsRespiratory016
017Pyroglutamic acidosisTox017
018Liver Transplant Part 1Transplant018
019Liver Transplant Part 2Transplant019
020ICP MonitoringNeuro020
021Time cycling vs flow cyclingVentilation021
022Necrotising fasciitisMicro022
023Cardiac PacingCardiac023
024The aminoglycosidesDrugs024
025Andrenocortical insufficiencyEndocrine025
026Short Bowel SyndromeGastro026
027PlasmapheresisHaem027
028HIV in the ICUMicro028
029C. DiffMicro029
030GBS Part 1Neuro030
031GBS Part 2Neuro031
032Nutritional requirements in ICUNutrition032
033Pre-eclampsiaObstetrics033
034Chemotherapy agents and intensive careOncology034
035When to start CRRTRenal035
036OxygenRespiratory036
037Serotonin SyndromeTox037
038Lung TransplantationRespiratory038
039Management of raised ICPNeuro039
040Respiratory MonitoringVentilation040
041Gas EmboliCardiac041
042Nitric OxideVentilation042
043Inotropes and vasopressorsCardiac043
044Calcium DisordersEndocrine044
045Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear exposuresEnvironmental045
046Abdominal Compartment SyndromeGastro046
047Haemostatic failureHaem047
048AnaphylaxisImmunology048
049CandidaMicro049
050Spinal cord injuriestrauma050
051Parenteral nutritionNutrition051
052Bronchoscopy in the ICURespiratory052
053Recurrent clotting of the filterRenal053
054Chest injuriesTrauma054
055Salicylate PoisoningTox055
056AspergillosisMicro056
057Myasthenia GravisNeuro057
058Haematological MalignancyHaem058
059Dead SpaceVentilation059
060Post Cardiac Surgery PatientCardiac060
061AsthmaRespiratory061
062DiureticsDrugs062
063Respiratory ComplianceRespiratory063
064Staph AureusMicro064
065Cerebral ProtectionNeuro064
066
067
068

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At this stage (Oct 2020), PGY17 and still in training I have done a fair number of exams and I feel that now, pushing 40 and vowing never to do another exam, I may have finally perfected my examination technique. But that’s for another post.

I have accumulated a large number of summarised and truncated notes across two specialties (three if you include the echo stuff…) and they exists as a useful compilation of information that I felt tricky enough and important enough to create a note for.

(as an aside I have migrated to Google Keep in a big way as my main repository for these notes in progress)

Like many people on t’internet, I feel it’s somewhat of a shame to keep these hidden behind my somewhat poorly secured google account and have tried to translate them to this here forum for public appreciation/scorn. In addition the transposition of said notes from brief notary form to the longer, and better hyperlinked form is an exercise in curation and improvement itself.

Ultimately I am engaged in an ongoing project to turn these notes into spoken word in the style of the great Mark Crislip’s “Gobbet of pus” to which this podcast is a humble and greatly inferior derivative of.

The Goal

The aim here is brief, <5min episodes that address a topic in hopefully just enough detail to stick in the mind in a manner that might be retrievable in a situation of extreme stress – namely a fellowship examination. The knowledge contained will hopefully be sufficient to allow you to not look completely clueless on the ICU round when the topic of PR3+ve ANCA vasculitis comes up.

They are not designed to be comprehensive coverage of a topic and the concepts included are deliberately simplified to maximise retention. As such this hopefully will occupy the niche of “exam prep/board review” in the already somewhat crowded critical care podcast scene.

While tagged and categorised on the site to some degree, I have decided to mix and match the EM with the ICM in the hopes of upholding the shared knowledge base and skill set that the two specialties enjoy. If the ortho turns off the intensivists and the antifungals turns off the emergentologists then apologies in advance and I strongly encourage the healthy use of the “skip” button on your podcatcher/player/thingamadoodle.

While not exactly a podcast of me reading aloud the LITFL or Deranged Physiology entry, it is definitely in the category of fan fiction.

Resources used in preparation for the ICM sections:

  • I used Oh’s Manual of Intensive Care as the curriculum guide. It doesn’t always teach the topic the best but by covering this cover to cover I felt confident I’d covered the curriculum
  • LITFL Critical Care Compendium: These are invaluable as a clinical and an exam resource and cannot be praised highly enough. My notes are frequently shorter more simplistic versions
  • Deranged Physiology: I used this when I wanted detail and background. There are a lot of rabbit holes and detail that is not within the scope of an ICM exam. But it is wonderfully written and referenced and a good source of links to PDFs of important review articles.
  • The IBCC: This is of course still a work in progress but it was my constant companion as I ran loops of Maynooth in 2020.
  • Irwin & Rippe: Much more of a US perspective on ICM but again useful as a canonical source of detail and pathophysiology
  • Tobin’s book on mechanical ventilation: I’ve still only scratched the surface of this but it’s great

Resources used in preparation of the EM sections:

  • The Oxford Handbook of EM: I had a PDF version that I heavily annotated and used as a guide for curriculum coverage. If you just read trauma and resus ad stuff you’re interested in you’ll never cover the gynae emergencies…
  • Rosen’s Textbook: Huge amounts of detail and breadth and generally dipped into when that’s what I needed
  • Guidelines: An extensive knowledge of up to date guidelines relevant to UK EM practice is essential for the FRCEM exam. I collated and summarised a LOT of these.

If really interested the music from the intro and outro is my own and can be found here