Lesson 1. Resuscitation is the easy part of caring for critically ill patients.
Resuscitation or ‘rescue’ is one of the most exciting parts of the job, however, is only a fraction of what’s needed to care for a critically ill patient.
Without being competent at resuscitation, the other aspects of patient care suffer, but hyper fixating on resuscitation can be at the detriment of patients.
After some time (typically hours), care needs to shift from resuscitation into stabilization. The things that may have benefited patients early on (e.g. fluids) may harm the patient later on.
Importantly, the intensity of resuscitation often corresponds to the intensity of deresuscitation required.