ICU Cliff Notes

These ICU Cliff Notes are a collection of the high-yield, practical, and clinically relevant
pearls gathered over years of training and practicing from a triple board–certified intensivist.
 
These pages were born out of the same reality every ICU clinician faces:  Critical illness is hectic. And at 3 AM, you need clarity, not paragraphs.  This guide is exactly that — clear, concise, and built for real-world critical care.  130 topics and 163 pages of information.
 
It’s not meant to replace guidelines, protocols, or your attending’s oversight.
It’s simply the notebook I wish I had on day one.
 
This is designed to make you smarter and more confident at the bedside — whether you’re a med student stepping into the unit for the first time, a nurse always at the bedside, a resident running a sick call night, a fellow refining your flow, an APP managing a full census, or a new attending finding your voice in the ICU.
 
Critical care is a team sport — and my hope is that this guide supports you in becoming the clinician your patients need and your colleagues rely on.
 
A couple things to be aware of:  All references are listed in the endnotes that follow. Click any footnote marker in the text to jump to the corresponding endnote, then click the linked title to access the source. At the bottom of a topic, there may be a lecture video that is hyperlinked for you to watch to digest the information better where you can comment on the video any questions you have.
 
Welcome to the unit.
 
DISCLAIMER 
This is not medical advice. It is not a substitute for clinical judgment, institutional protocols, or attending physician oversight. Patient care decisions should always be guided by your hospital's policies, current evidence-based guidelines, and the supervision of qualified clinicians. The author assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or outcomes arising from the use of this material.
Medications, dosing, and diagnostic thresholds cited here must be independently verified against current prescribing information and institutional protocols before application to any patient. Guidelines, drug approvals, and screening criteria change — sometimes quickly. This book is for personal educational use only.