Delayed, transient quadriplegia; the importance of spinal cord perfusion.

Transient quadriplegia developed in a man, a short time after, he sustained a cervical spinal fracture in a surfing mishap. The neurological deficit appeared complete, and developed some 30 min after the initial injury in the presence of moderate hypotension. It resolved over a further period of 1-2 hours following restoration of normotension.

Successful emergency management of a bleeding tracheoinnominate fistula.

In this case, we describe a novel approach to achieving temporary haemostasis in acute massive haemorrhage from a bleeding tracheoinnominate fistula. We report the case of a 42-year-old man admitted to hospital after suffering 80% body surface area burns. Thirty days following the percutaneous insertion of a tracheostomy, spontaneous massive haemorrhage occurred via the tracheostomy stoma, the tracheostomy tube and the mouth.

Assessment of the College of Intensive Care Medicine's capacity to train: a survey of trainees and directors.

Background: In Australia and New Zealand, the numbers of intensive care medicine trainees have increased significantly over the past 15 years. This has implications for supervision, clinical and procedural experience, and availability of rotations. The College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand (CICM) decided to estimate the current training resources using several domains.

Prevalence of bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment among trainees and Fellows of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand.

Background: Anecdotal reports about bullying behaviour in intensive care emerged during College of Intensive Care Medicine (CICM) hospital accreditation visits. Bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment (BDSH) in the medical profession, particularly in surgery, were widely reported in the media recently. This prompted the College to formally survey its Fellows and trainees to identify the prevalence of these behaviours in the intensive care workplace.

Current use of preoperative intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation in high-risk cardiac surgery: a cohort study.

Objective: To determine whether preoperative introduction of intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation (IABC) reduced mortality in high-risk patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of prospectively collected data on all patients who underwent cardiac surgery at a university hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, between 1 January 2002 and 20 August 2007. High risk was defined as the presence of two or more recognised risk factors.

Equitable resource allocation in the intensive care unit: a descriptive ethical case.

A patient with respiratory failure due to undiagnosed tuberculosis in the presence of HIV infection presents to the ICU in a foreign country. This raises many ethical questions, quite apart from the medical management issues raised by the patient's serious condition. Six of these ethical questions have been presented to leading physicians and an ethicist, from a range of national, cultural and religious backgrounds, for their comment.