60: Infective Endocarditis: From Invasion to Destruction

In part one of this two part series, our host Sarah Lorenzini shares a story about a patient she was called to see who was under the care of nurse Clayton, a trusted colleague and previous Rapid Response Podcast guest, after he saw a drop in the patient’s blood pressure and had a gut feeling something wasn’t right.

Sarah walks us through her assessment and how the team came to the conclusion that this patient had infective endocarditis.

In part two of this series, Sarah will elaborate on this case by explaining how bacteria or fungus grows inside the cardiac muscle, how infective endocarditis presents itself in patients, and the different diagnostic criteria for endocarditis.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Clayton’s concern over a patient’s drop in blood pressure
• Steps Sarah took to assess the patient
• What they found after calling for an expedited echo for the patient
• What is infective endocarditis?
• Introduction into infective endocarditis