03_03_02 Stress ulceration

Stress Ulceration
Session Overview
Description
Bleeding from stress ulcer disease remains a significant medical problem in critically ill patients and thus is an important topic for trainees to be aware of. This session will cover the rationale, treatment options and issues related to stress ulcer prophylaxis.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Recognize how stress ulceration occurs and the patient groups most at risk on a critical care unit
• Prescribe appropriate therapy
• Differentiate between prophylaxis regimens and treatment for GI bleeding

Prerequisites
Before commencing this session you should complete:

• Drugs acting on the GI tract (001-0806)

This session considers the pathophysiology and epidemiology of stress ulceration, reviews the risk factors relevant to critical care patients and thereby shows how to identify which patients need stress ulcer prophylaxis.

It discusses the commonly used drug treatments and their relevant critical care disadvantages, and briefly discusses the recognition and further treatment of upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in an intensive care patient.

At the end of the session, you should be able to recognize those critical care patients at risk and be able to decide on appropriate therapy.