Rounding in the ICU

Today we joined the ICU rounds. It was really interesting to see so much sequela of pulmonary TB, something we don’t see much of back home.

Tuberculosis is a wide spread respiratory disease, with a high prevalence in India of active disease. It can lead to devastation on lung function, as you can see in these two radiographs with large areas of severe fibrosis.

It was also interesting to hear the difficulties they face. For example, they don’t have the antibiotic Meropenem available in the hospital. If it is needed, and if the patient can afford it, the physician writes the script and the family member goes to the pharmacy (the chemist) to pick up the antibiotic, and then brings it to the hospital to be used. They really have to think about the cost, availability, and resistance when deciding which antibiotic to use (something we all should be thinking about, but presents a greater difficulty here).

The ICU crash cart, or as they call it, an Emergency Trolley (which is a way better name in my opinion).