DRENZLA on FLUIDS 

Adam Drenzla, a bright and inquisitive ICU registrar, recently sent in these insightful comments, having been inspired by an excellent podcast on EMCRIT and a powerful post by Cliff Reid both about "chloride poisoning" and intravenous fluids.

Adam, Scott Weingart and Cliff Reid will all be at the upcoming SMACC conference.

Adam writes:

ICU consultant: "Yeah, we never thought the story sounded much like cholecystitis. The pattern was much more suggestive of acute alcoholic hepatitis, so we've been sticking with supportive treatment."

Well-read ICU senior registrar (He' is into FOAMed and all that kooky young person stuff!): "What's his Maddrey's discrimination factor?"

Ah, they're never far away are they? The next round of the CICM Fellowship written exams are on the way. If you can get to Sydney in the middle of February, help is at hand. Dr Arvind Rajamani is running his 9th Sydney Written Course and from personal experience, this is one that is worth getting to if you can.

It's a 2 day course aimed squarely at candidates who have done all of the prepatory work for the exam and are now looking to polish their technique and get a few insider hints and tips to give them an edge. One of the big pluses is being challenged to write exam answers under exam conditions and then getting feedback from experienced intensivists on how you can improve and harvest as many points as possible.

The course runs at Nepean Hospital, on Derby Street, Kingswood, in Sydney's west, between the 14th and 15th of February. For more details, contact Arvind at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone (02) 4734 2000 and ask to speak to him.

The course costs $150AU and the registration deadline is the 1st of February 2013