Intended learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences to be developed by the students):
Students will develop foundational knowledge and practical competencies in Intensive Care Medicine. By the end of the course, they will be able to:
Knowledge:
- Causes, mechanisms, manifestations, prognosis, and treatment of clinical conditions requiring intensive care and/or continuous monitoring;
- Preventive practices and monitoring in critically ill patients;
- Severity indices in intensive care;
- Modes of ventilatory, renal, and circulatory support.
Skills:
- Clinical data assessment for therapeutic decision-making in intensive care settings;
- Severity grading and patient stratification;
- Basic and advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques;
- Venipuncture and arterial puncture for blood gas analysis;
- Central venous catheter and arterial line placement.
Competencies:
- Teamwork in high-pressure environments;
- Effective communication with patients and families in the intensive care context;
- Recognition of technical and ethical limitations of medical care, avoiding therapeutic obstinacy;
- Presentation and discussion of clinical cases among peers and intra/inter-hospital referrals.
Syllabus:
Diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of life-threatening conditions, including:
- Acute coronary and aortic syndromes;
- Acute heart failure/pulmonary edema/shock;
- Cardiac arrest;
- Sepsis;
- Gastrointestinal bleeding;
- Liver failure;
- Acute or decompensated chronic respiratory failure;
- Hemoptysis/pneumothorax;
- Diabetic ketoacidosis/hyperosmolar coma/hypoglycemia/hypothyroidism, thyrotoxicosis, adrenal insufficiency;
- Acute abdomen;
- Acute kidney failure.
Critical Patient Management:
- Infection control and antibiotic therapy;
- Nutritional support strategies;
- Invasive and non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring;
- Vital function support (ventilatory, renal, circulatory);
- Sedation and analgesia strategies;
- Hypo- and hyperthermia management;
- Transfusion support;
- Acid-base and electrolyte disorders.