An intensivist on a learning frenzy. Caring for the critically ill using evidence-based medicine.
Today is Saturday, June 20 of 2020 for historical context (ADDENDUM: this page has been updated numerous times to facilitate the best possible information for you). It is now pretty easy for us to purchase our own 3M respirator for when we take care of COVID patients. They're available on Amazon with a bit of …
Continue reading 3M Respirator & Filters for COVID: 7500 vs 6000 vs 6800 Series Face Masks
ADDENDUM 1/5/22: We have now been using dexamethasone for COVID-19 patients who require oxygen since summer of 2020. We have been mostly stuck on using the dose of 6mg per day in these patients simply because that's what the great authors of the RECOVERY trial group did. This isn't a dig at them, they did …
Continue reading Dexamethasone in COVID-19: Improving Survival
YouTube and Instagram sensation David Convissar, MD, (aka @countbackwardsfrom10) had his paper on Lung Ultrasound During the Coronavirus Pandemic published. It's online as of just a few days ago in Anesthesia and Analgesia. He knows quite a bit about COVID from personal experience. He shared his journey, from learning he had contracted the virus to …
Ivermectin in COVID, this is the second time I cover this medication during this pandemic. Please note the date this blog post was written as things could have changed since then. This is NOT medical advice. This paper has NOT been peer reviewed. I will try to peer review it myself. Ultimately, I recommend you not …
Continue reading Ivermectin in COVID-19: Taking another look
How I wish that this was a positive study regarding Remdesivir. We’re in need of a helpful tool. I’ve thrown every possible treatment including tPA at patients to try to save them and nothing is 100% at this point. I took apart the first Remdesivir study several weeks ago and was not impressed. History is …
Some legendary names came out to play for this article regarding corticosteroids in COVID-19. Meduri is the author of the famous Meduri Protocol for methylprednisolone in ARDS and Villar is the author of the article I shared on February 13th (seems like forever ago, really) where they provided dexamethasone for ARDS and showed a mortality …
I typically appreciate guidelines. They do a pretty reasonable job to help us take care of our patients and standardize how we do things. Here, I break down the IDSA guidelines on COVID. With all due respect to the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) , I do not like these guidelines. I'd rather they …
Could plasma exchange help save the lives of COVID patients? Let's straighten out some nomenclature first. We all have questions about what is what and there is much confusion. I personally like the say all these words roll off the tongue. Makes you sound smart when you say it. There's more to it than what …
If you continue reading on this page, you'll note that I have attempted to tackle the whole conundrum of anticoagulation in COVID patient with the pendulum swinging. My first post on the matter was back on 4/6/20 (when this post was initially created) and the second was on 4/12/20. My attempts to keep modifying my …
Continue reading VTE Prophylaxis or Anticoagulation in COVID: Visiting the Guidelines
Let's be quite clear here, there's no miracle drug for all this. I am personally not enthusiastic about Remdesivir in Severe COVID-19. I personally have zero experience with Remdesivir at this point in time. Hopefully you all can comment on whether you anecdotally think it works or not. This study was published earlier today in …