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My patient has a MASS of 2. Can I screen this patient for delirium? If a patient has a MASS of 2, they are able to obey commands, but have some reduction in their level of alertness. If a patient has a MASS of 2, attempt to screen them using the ICDSC. Some patients may achieve a MASS score of 2 by...

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Patients sometimes become confused or agitated when they are ill. They may awaken with a startle and unexpectedly pull at lines and tubes. They may attempt to get out of bed or even strike out at people. We may need to use some form of restraint in these situations to keep the patient and our staff...

BYPASS OPERATION; CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT; CABG; "CABBAGE"; OPEN-HEART SURGERY; HEART-LUNG BYPASS; PUMP SURGERY A "bypass" is an operation that is performed in order to "detour" blood around an area of blood vessel narrowing. Bypass operations can be performed in different areas of the body...

ISCHEMIA; HYPOXIA SHOCK Ischemia is a word used to describe a situation where there is not enough oxygen reaching the cells of the body. The word hypoxia means "a reduced level of oxygen at the cell level" and is often used interchangeably. When body organs become ischemic, they cannot function...

PACEMAKER A pacemaker is a special wire that is inserted into the patients heart. It is inserted through a central venous catheter, and usually positioned with the tip of the wire in the right ventricle (lower right chamber). The wire has a positive and negative electrode at the tip. We generally...

CARDIAC ARREST ; CARDIO-PULMONARY RESUSCITATION; CPR ; CHEST COMPRESSIONS; VENTRICULAR TACHYCARDIA; VT ; V-TACH ; VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION ; VF ; V-FIB ; DEFIBRILLATION ; CARDIOVERSION The word cardiac means "heart" and "arrest" means stop. If the heart stops pumping for any period of time, the...

Decision Making, Life-Support Decisions All patients admitted to the London Health Sciences Centre are asked about their wishes regarding life-support. When a patient is unable to tell us their wishes, we must rely on the Substitute Decision Maker to communicate the patient’s goals, wishes and...

MECHANICAL VENTILATOR The majority of patients admitted to critical care will need their breathing supported by a mechanical ventilator at some point in their admission. "To ventilate" means "to breathe". A mechanical ventilator is a machine that breathes for a patient. Although the term artificial...

CORONARY ARTERIES ISCHEMIA ; ANGINA HEART ATTACK; MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION The heart is a muscle. Like all muscles and organs of the body, the heart needs oxygen in order to work. Oxygen is carried to the heart muscle by blood vessels. The word "cardiac" means heart. The blood vessels that carry oxygen...