Mark E. Hamill, MD, FCCM, a trauma surgeon, intensivist, and past chair of the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) Fundamental Critical Care Support (FCCS) Committee, discusses the evolution, impact, and future of training of critical care.

In this SCCM podcast, Dr. Hamill reflects on his decade-long journey with FCCS, beginning with local implementation at his former institution to eventually leading national and international Fundamentals efforts. He shares powerful stories from training initiatives in Rwanda, Palestine, and war-time Ukraine—highlighting the program’s global reach and ability to empower frontline clinicians.

Central to the discussion is Dr. Hamill’s published study, “Impact of Standardized Multidisciplinary Critical Care Training on Confidence with Critical Illness and Attitudes Towards Interprofessional Education and Multidisciplinary Care” (Hamill ME, et al. J Intensive Care Med. 2024;39:320-327). The study analyzed survey data from 328 multidisciplinary learners and demonstrated significant increases in participants’ self-assessed confidence across key critical care domains—including sepsis, respiratory failure, shock, and neurologic illness—after completing FCCS. The findings support what many instructors have long observed anecdotally: FCCS builds competence, fosters interprofessional collaboration, and enhances learners’ readiness to respond to critically ill patients.

Dr. Hamill also explains the study’s methodology, including retrospective precourse analysis and a three-month follow-up, and shares insights about future research plans involving simulation-based evaluation to assess knowledge retention and behavior change.

Whether you are considering hosting a Fundamentals course, becoming an instructor, or expanding your training programs, this podcast episode offers compelling evidence of FCCS’s lasting value in skills acquisition and elevating the culture of care.

Aarti Sarwal, MD, FAAN, FNCS, FCCM, professor of neurology at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, explores the nuanced intersection of neurology and critical care, offering practical insights for clinicians across disciplines.

Dr. Sarwal shares her perspective on the unique challenges of managing neurocritically ill patients, particularly when impairment presents challenges in administering a neurologic examination. She emphasizes that “the brain is the barometer of critical illness,” urging clinicians to prioritize daily neurologic evaluations and integrate neuromonitoring even in non-neurologic ICU populations. Listeners will gain an overview of tools such as continuous EEG, transcranial Doppler, emboli monitoring, and multimodal neuromonitoring platforms, including the role of neuro-ultrasound in expanding point-of-care capabilities.

This episode also highlights the need for multidisciplinary collaboration and a shared decision-making model that extends across the continuum of care—from early ICU admission to post-discharge recovery.

Listeners will appreciate Dr. Sarwal’s reflections on neuroprognostication and the ethical dimensions of care withdrawal, particularly the danger of therapeutic nihilism in patients whose outcomes are uncertain. Referencing a 2023 review she coauthored (Crit Care Med. 2023;51:525-542), Dr. Sarwal outlines a practical framework for neuromonitoring that integrates structural, electrical, vascular, and metabolic insights.

This conversation provides a timely and inclusive look at the future of neurocritical care—where technology, teamwork, and training converge to support better patient outcomes.

In this forward-looking episode of the SCCM Podcast, Daniel F. McAuley, MD, explores how the clinical and research communities are rethinking acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), shifting from a one-size-fits-all model to a focus on identifying and targeting modifiable traits. Building on his Thought Leader Session at the 2024 Critical Care Congress, Dr. McAuley unpacks the major thematic shift toward precision medicine in critical care.

Instead of treating ARDS as a single, homogenous condition, researchers are increasingly identifying biologically distinct subgroups—especially hyper- and hypoinflammatory phenotypes—that may respond differently to therapies. These insights are fueling a new generation of trials that aim to prospectively apply this knowledge to treatment strategies.

Central to this evolution is the Precision medicine Adaptive platform Network Trial in Hypoaemic acutE respiratory failure (PANTHER), of which Dr. McAuley is a team member. PANTHER is a Bayesian adaptive platform randomized clinical trial studying novel interventions to improve outcomes for patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. Designed to be adaptive and biomarker informed, PANTHER will test therapies such as simvastatin and baricitinib, based on real-time phenotyping of patients with ARDS.

Throughout the episode, Dr. McAuley reflects on how advances in machine learning and biomarker identification are making precision treatment more feasible. He discusses the importance of maintaining evidence-based supportive care, such as lung-protective ventilation and prone positioning, while integrating new targeted therapies. Discover the latest investigations into potential therapeutic agents—including mesenchymal stromal cells, statins, and extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal—as Dr. McAuley aims to translate early findings into tangible improvements in patient outcomes.

This episode offers critical insights into the changing landscape of ARDS research and patient care, as Dr. McAuley articulates a hopeful vision for the future—one in which targeted, individualized treatments can improve outcomes for patients with one of critical care’s most challenging conditions.

Dr. McAuley is a consultant and professor in intensive care medicine in the regional intensive care unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital and Queen’s University of Belfast. He is program director for the Medical Research Council/National Institute for Health and Care Research (MRC/NIHR) Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Program and scientific director for programs in NIHR. Access Dr. McAuley’s Congress Thought Leader Session, ARDS: From Treating a Syndrome to Identifying Modifiable Traits here.