ICU curriculum summary — study map and high-stakes decisions

Meet the candidate

Picture the registrar six weeks out from the written paper. They can recite the surviving sepsis bundle and the PROSEVA proning criteria, but they freeze when asked to talk through the hormonal resuscitation of a brain-dead donor. ^[5][6] Pharmacological normalisation of the circulation after brain death, and adjunctive vasoactive and hormone replacement therapy in the persistently unstable donor, are examinable physiology and management. ^[2][4]

References9ShowHide

1. [5]Levy MM, Evans LE, Rhodes A The Surviving Sepsis Campaign Bundle: 2018 update. Intensive Care Med, 2018.PMID 29675566
2. [6]Guérin C, Reignier J, et al. Prone positioning in severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. N Engl J Med, 2013.PMID 23688302
3. [1]Rech TH, Moraes RB, Crispim D, et al. Management of the brain-dead organ donor: a systematic review and meta-analysis Transplantation, 2013.PMID 23545508
4. [2]Steen S, Sjöberg T, Liao Q, et al. Pharmacological normalization of circulation after acute brain death Acta Anaesthesiol Scand, 2012.PMID 22651688
5. [3]Mangus RS, Fridell JA, Vianna RM, et al. Severe hypernatremia in deceased liver donors does not impact early transplant outcome Transplantation, 2010.PMID 20679966
6. [4]Patel MS, Abt PL Current practices in deceased organ donor management Curr Opin Organ Transplant, 2019.PMID 31090647
7. [7]Abraham DL, Hernandez I, Ayers GT, et al. Association between opioid dose escalation and time to death in a comfort measures only population Am J Health Syst Pharm, 2021.PMID 33064125
8. [8]Sviri S, Nagata I, Szczeklik W, et al. End-of-life decision-making in very old critically ill patients Eur Geriatr Med, 2026.PMID 42286398
9. [9]Saeed F, Duberstein PR, White DB, et al. Time-limited trials for acute dialysis decision-making for critically ill older patients: rationale, communication strategies, and future research Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens, 2026.PMID 41492246